Peanut company CEO sentenced to 28 years for Salmonella outbreak

Michael Parnell, 56, of Midlothian, Virginia, who worked at P.P. Sales and was a food broker who worked on behalf of PCA, and is Stewart Parnell’s brother, was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Parnell ran the Peanut Corporation of America in Georgia.

Former Peanut Corporation of American owner Stewart Parnell addressed a federal judge and a courtroom full of victims’ families during his sentencing hearing Monday.

Michael Parnell was convicted of conspiracy and dozens of counts of fraud, according to a federal indictment. His lawyer said they would appeal the sentence.

“If you compare it with other food-safety criminal cases, it’s tremendously out of line”, Bondurant said. Parnell had been convicted of knowingly shipping salmonella-tainted peanut butter that was been linked to nine deaths. Still, the day was filled with mixed emotions.

“No one thought that the products were unsafe or could harm someone”, said Stewart Parnell’s daughter, Grey Parnell. “But less so in that all this could have been avoided”.

The salmonella outbreak traced to Parnell’s peanut plant in early 2009 was ultimately blamed for 714 illnesses and nine deaths, and triggered one of the largest food recalls in USA history.

But on Monday he expressed remorse in court, apologizing to customers and saying he was “personally embarrassed, humiliated and morally disgraced by what happened”. His son asked the judge to “please show my father mercy when considering his sentencing”, according to a local Fox affiliate. Most of those who died in the outbreak were older than 70 or had other health conditions.

Jeff Almer’s mother Shirley died after eating tainted peanut butter in 2009.

“This has been a several year nightmare”.

“While Stewart Parnell again attempts to paint his actions as reasonable in light of what was known at the time, he can not escape his emails admitted as evidence at trial that demonstrated he knew peanut products contained salmonella and shipped those products anyway”, the judge said.

“We need to send a message to these food manufacturers”, said the Durham, N.C., resident. “The Department of Justice will continue to work aggressively with its partners to ensure that the American people are protected from food that is adulterated or misbranded within the meaning of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and pursue any person who fails to abide by the vital food safety protections in the law”.

The Peanut Corporation of America is no longer in business.

“I don’t have the impression that Parnell set out to kill people”, Tobias said. “The sentence was appropriate and maybe it should have been stiffer”.

Salmonella causes an estimated 1 million illnesses annually, according to the CDC.

Four of his clients who testified at the sentencings voiced “feelings of disappointment” that the punishments weren’t harsher, said Marler. “He’s got a lot of years to spend in jail, and it won’t be easy for him”.