For the first time in history, the owner of a company is facing a life behind bars for a Salmonella outbreak that killed nine people and sickened hundreds of others. Stewart Parnell, owner of Peanut Corporation of America, was found guilty of knowingly shipping salmonella-tainted peanut to the rest of country, according to Yahoo News.
The peanut products were shipped to companies like Kellogg's and were used for everything from crackers to pet food. Michael Parnell, brother of Stewart who acted as food broker, and a plant manager were also found guilty of faking lab results that indicated the presence of Salmonella.
Investigations point to a conspiracy between the defendants. The jury from Georgia convicted Parnell on 72 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and other federal charges, Fox 8 reported. 45 witnesses, more than a thousand documents, months of email exchanges, lab results, and financial records were all used to prove the case.
Federal investigations revealed the presences of pests in the factories, including rodents, roaches, and even a leaky roof. One of the most blistering of the statements which has come to define the trial came from one of Parnell's emails saying, "Just ship it," amid lab results that should have prevented the contaminated products from even leaving the factories.
Other batches of peanuts got shipped without even some kind of testing happening. For his wrongdoing, Parnell faces a maximum sentence of 9,636 months or 803 years in jail. The US Probation Office has recommended the stiffest penalties against the Parnells and the plant manager based on the number of people affected and the estimated $144million in damages caused to corporate customers.
Michael Parnell faces 17 years in prison while Mary Wilkerson could get five years. The judge has the final say in the proceedings but if he doles out the maximum sentence then it would be unprecedented as food poisoning cases have always been misdemeanors only, CNN reported.
"Our government seems to be sending a clear message that poisoning your customers may well land you in jail," said Bill Marler, a food safety lawyer from Seattle who represented victims of the Salmonella outbreak.
