In the six years since the death of his mother from salmonella poisoning linked to peanut butter processed at a plant in the southwest Georgia town of Blakely, Jeff Almer has sought closure to no avail.
That may change this week.
Three executives with Peanut Corporation of America — operator of the now-defunct Blakely facility — will be sentenced at a hearing that starts Monday. Juries found them guilty of more than 100 felony charges stemming from a salmonella outbreak traced to the plant in 2009.
“Our whole family is mentally fatigued from talking about the death of my mom for that long a period,” said Almer, whose mother, Shirley Almer, died just days before Christmas 2008. She’d eaten tainted peanut butter while recovering at a Minnesota hospice after a battle with cancer.
“Will it bring closure? That’s the million dollar question for us. That’s what I hope,” he said.
Most closely watched will be the sentence given former CEO Stewart Parnell, found guilty of more than 70 felony counts. The result could be a series of prison terms that would put him behind bars for life.
Atlanta attorney Al Maxwell, who defends big manufacturers, said the PCA case is an outlier in that the acts were so egregious, but he thinks putting a CEO in prison would send a message.
“The government has become more aggressive in the criminal prosecution of violators,” he said. “The PCA case is an additional motivator for companies to do the right thing.”
Ken Hodges, an attorney for Parnell, said he expects his client to get prison time but does not think a lengthy term is necessary to deliver that message.
Hodges said his client built the business from scratch with the goal of one day passing it on to his children.
“That shows you he had no incentive to do something that was so destructive” as to destroy the business with products he knew to be tainted, Hodges said.
Nine dead, hundreds ill
Nine people from across the country died and more than 700 were sickened by salmonella in products traced to Blakely, setting off a massive peanut butter recall that included products shipped to big clients like hospitals. All told it involved more than 3,900 products, including popular Kellogg’s treats such as Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Crackers and Toasted Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers.
The PCA leaders — CEO Parnell, his brother Michael Parnell and quality control manager Mary Wilkerson— were found guilty in 2014 on charges ranging from conspiracy to introduce adulterated and misbranded food into interstate commerce to allegations of mail and wire fraud.
Two other PCA workers, managers Samuel Lightsey and Daniel Kilgore, cooperated with prosecutors and will be sentenced separately, but may also be at the hearing, according to reports. Families of the victims will also be there to share their stories.
The Parnells and Wilkerson will be sentenced at C.B. King federal courthouse in Albany in a hearing that is expected to last two days, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
70 counts against CEO
Stewart Parnell potentially faces the longest sentence, although the prison term for each count is unclear as is whether he will receive the maximum sentence. His brother and Wilkerson may get between 8 and 22 years.
Prosecutors accuse Stewart Parnell of lying to employees and others about the presence of salmonella at the plant — testing actually discovered the bacteria 12 times in the facility — and found incriminating emails in which Parnell acknowledged problems with salmonella but ordered the tainted products shipped anyway.
“I go thru this about once a week. i will hold my breath …. again,” he said in one email to an employee about the discovery of a new contaminated peanut product.
The company also was accused of shopping around for laboratories that would give it clean results if a salmonella test came back positive. In addition, the company is said to have not cleaned the facility in instances after salmonella was discovered.
PCA declared bankruptcy in 2009 under the weight of the recall and lost business.
Bill Marler, a Seattle attorney who represents several families of victims, said there was some skepticism that this day would come, especially since the prosecution seemed to have an open-and-shut case.
Case took time
“I know it takes time to put a case together, but I was surprised how long it took,” Marler said. “Proving intent is a pretty hard thing to do. But you’ve got emails and the U.S. attorney’s office had two people willing to plead out against the company.”
At Monday’s sentencing, Randy Napier plans to tell the PCA leaders about his mother, Nellie Napier, who died in Ohio at age 80 from salmonella linked to the Blakely Plant. Nellie Napier, a single-parent, raised six children on a minuscule salary and never asked for government aid, Randy Napier said. He described his mother as generous and loving, a person well liked and respected.
His mother was hospitalized in early January 2009 after officials with the nursing home in which she lived feared she had become dehydrated. Nellie Napier, who had been given peanut butter as a snack to control her sugar level, faded fast, with severe diarrhea, vomiting and later sepsis that caused her kidneys to shut down and required a respirator for her labored breathing, her son said.
Suffering from severe abdomen pain, she lost consciousness and died 17 days after being admitted to the hospital.
“I would not wish this on the Parnell family,” he said. “It was horrible and will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
Staff writer Matt Kempner contributed to this article.
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