Summary

On June 20, a U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles, CA sentenced Juan Carlos Landaverde of Whittier, CA to twelve months in prison and ordered him to pay $6,000 for conspiring to transport 2,500 pounds of explosive fireworks without the required HazMat placarding. Landaverde and co-conspirator, Antonio Adame were indicted on the criminal charges in July 2004, and both men subsequently pled guilty. Adame had driven an unplacarded rental truck containing the explosive fireworks transported from Nevada to California, while Landaverde drove a ‘chase car.’ Transportation of dangerous explosives on the nation’s highways without proper warning signs poses a serious risk to public safety as well as to emergency personnel who would be responding in the event of an accident. Adame was sentenced in February 2005 to pay nearly $5,000. Both sentences result from a larger task force investigation into smuggling explosive fireworks into California.