A federal judge has ordered an Idaho man to serve 17 years in prison for unsafe work practices that left a 20-year-old employee with permanent brain damage from cyanide poisoning, the Department of Justice announced. Allan Elias received the longest sentence ever imposed for an environmental crime, and also was ordered to pay $6 million in restitution to the victim and his family.
In May 1999, a jury in Pocatello, Idaho, found that Elias ordered employees of Evergreen Resources, a fertilizer manufacturing company he owned, to enter and clean out a 25,000-gallon storage tank containing cyanide without taking required precautions to protect his employees. OSHA inspectors repeatedly had warned Elias about the dangers of cyanide and explained the precautions he must take.