Sentences handed down in pet-food poisoning criminal case

http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=14984
Veterinary Information Network, Inc.

The criminal case against an American company responsible for importing contaminated pet-food ingredients that sickened and killed thousands of family pets in 2007 ended Friday with the sentencing of ChemNutra, Inc., and its owners, Sally Qing Miller, 43, and Stephen S. Miller, 57, of Las Vegas.

The Millers, a married couple, each was fined $5,000 and given three years probation in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., by U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Maughmer. In addition, ChemNutra was fined $25,000.

. . .

The Veterinary Information Network, which surveyed its members and tracked cases, estimates that 30,000 to 50,000 animals were affected. About 1,950 cats and 2,200 dogs died, by the reckoning of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, based on consumer reports received by the FDA.


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Probation and a fine for killing over four thousand pets, sounds about right for our justice system these days.

I hope some lawyer group is working on a class action civil suit. SOBs....This just makes me so damned angry.

where money was awarded for damages. That civil case was mainly against big guys like Walmart, Petco, Purina, etc. who distributed and sold the food.

This criminal case is against the two people who owned the place who actually made the food.

but unless it was proven that the Millers had absolutely no idea the food was being poisoned by their Chinese supplier, those fines are ridiculously low.

Mrs. Miller can thank her lucky stars they're not in China. China executes people like that whether they knew or not.

because the melamine in China food products was already in the news and these guys continued to keep ordering product from their Chinese supplier.

from the article:

A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office at the time stated that the Millers could be sentenced to up to two years in prison without the possibility of parole, and that they and the company together could be fined up to $800,000 and ordered to pay restitution. However, prosecutors recommended a total of $35,000 in fines and three years of probation for each of the individuals. The judge followed the recommendation.


I guess that is why the couple plead guilty. If they went to trial and were found guilty of knowingly distributing poisoned food they would really be in hot water.

Now some civil suits can proceed and they will likely be sued into bankruptcy.

but I am probably confusing this with the melamine-adulterated baby formula.

on edit: not so sure