UPDATE: U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Q. Langstaff late Friday denied Stewart Parnell’s request to have his U.S. Passport returned, Without a hearing, the Judge said the Court is sympathetic with Parnell’s desire to pursue employment opportunities involving foreign travel, but said conditions of his release are already the “least restrictive necessary” to ensure his future… Continue Reading
The criminal jury trial for former Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) executives should start on Oct. 7, according to an agreement by attorneys involved in the case. Picking the start date for the federal criminal trial is one of several important logistical decisions that U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands is expected to make… Continue Reading
Stewart Parnell, the former chief executive officer of the now defunct Peanut Corporation of American who is facing trial on a long list of criminal charges related to an outbreak of foodborne illness five years ago, wants his passport back. Parnell, 58, of Lynchburg, VA gave up his U.S. passport on Feb. 28 as a… Continue Reading
The government wants one of the attorneys defending former Peanut Corporation of America CEO Stewart Parnell on criminal, fraud and other criminal charges thrown off the case. The attorney the government wants to disqualify for “an alleged potential conflict of interest” is Atlanta-based lawyer Kenneth B. Hodges, III, who is well-known because he was the… Continue Reading
The government and the four accused executives associated with the now defunct Peanut Corporation of America have agreed that the case they are involved in is complex and the ticking countdown of the speedy trial rule has been halted. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia has approved a motion offered by… Continue Reading
Opinion
Four years ago, the people who ran Peanut Corporation of America were not accused felons, but pillars of the “Peanut Proud” town of Blakely, Georgia. When products PCA produced in Blakely were connected to the rapidly growing outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium, I jumped on a plane to Atlanta and turned my rental car south at… Continue Reading
The 52-page Grand Jury indictment of Stewart and Michael Parnell, Samuel Lightsey and Mary Wilkerson tells us a lot more than we knew about now-liquidated Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). The indictment of the four former PCA officials marks a new chapter in the four-year-old drama. It turns to a new page, one involving conspiracy… Continue Reading
The Peanut Corporation of America shut down in 2009 after a massive outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium linked to its products left the company bankrupt. Evidence that company officials knowingly released contaminated product onto the marketplace first surfaced in February of 2009 following an investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Now, four years later,… Continue Reading
Opinion
People in Portales, NM are beginning to fear the nation’s largest organic peanut butter plant might not have a future in their community. Their politicians are beating their drums about saving the plant and saving the jobs that go with it. The fear may be justified. A food safety crisis ending in bankruptcy or the… Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a Federal Grand Jury subpoena for a former employee of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), four years after the company caused a Salmonella outbreak in 2008 and 2009 that killed 9 and sickened roughly 700, WSET reports. For years, families affected by the outbreak have asked for former… Continue Reading
Opinion
I have been known as the “whistleblower” against Peanut Corp. of America, the company responsible for the peanut butter Salmonella outbreak of 2009, which eventually turned into the largest food recall in U.S. history. I worked there as production planner and assistant manager from July 2006 until November 2006, when I left because of personal… Continue Reading