The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is announcing today that a 58-year-old, Wichita, Kan., man has plead guilty to conspiracy to make false statements and illegally sell professional fireworks. Gerald Lee Dunnegan, owner of Advanced Imports Inc., faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiring to sell highly explosive display fireworks to an out-of-state buyer who had falsified ATF documents.
Under the plea agreement, which was accepted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, Dunnegan is banned from operating a fireworks-related business in the future and must forfeit over $400,000 in earnings.
Dunnegan, who at one time was on the Board of Directors of the American Pyrotechnics Association, has admitted to planning the sale of over 1,000 lbs. of professional fireworks to Rodney Harris, of Appleton, Wis., in June 1997 and May 1998. In each case, Harris traveled to Wichita, purchased the explosives from Dunnegan in cash, and transported them back to Wisconsin. Dunnegan made the sale with full knowledge that Harris did not have an ATF license and had used a third party in Kansas to falsify ATF documents stating that the fireworks would be used for display purposes in Kansas.
Harris plead guilty in December 1999 to conspiracy to import, deal, and make false statements involving illegal fireworks and was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison and fined $7,500.
"CPSC's investigative work helped connect the pieces to this puzzle and exposed a dangerous conspiracy to sell highly explosive, professional fireworks," said CPSC Chairman Hal Stratton. "Our coordination with federal law enforcement to stop this illegal activity may have prevented deaths and injuries to consumers of fireworks throughout the Midwest."
Hospital emergency rooms in the U.S. treated about 8,800 people for fireworks-related injuries in 2002, according to a Commission staff analysis. However, the number of injuries has decreased significantly from the highs of 1992 to 1994, when injuries averaged 12,500 a year.
Stratton attributes the decrease to rigorous enforcement, more consumer awareness of the potential dangers fireworks pose, and the production of a higher quality product by reputable fireworks manufacturers.
Through undercover buys, online purchases, inspections and investigations, CPSC is tracking down and shutting down illegal roadside stands, warehouses and retail stores that sell professional grade explosives to consumers, and homes that serve as havens for the manufacture of dangerous fireworks devices.
The CPSC worked closely and cooperatively with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Explosives in Wichita to build a criminal case against Mr. Dunnegan and with the Department of Justice's Office of Consumer Litigation and the United States Attorney's Office in Kansas on the prosecution.
About the U.S. CPSC
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risk of injury associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product-related incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. Since the CPSC was established more than 50 years ago, it has worked to ensure the safety of consumer products, which has contributed to a decline in injuries associated with these products.
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