Wilson, whose company is under fire following the deaths of two Layton girls met with his attorney Wednesday morning to begin drafting that statement. Until he releases it, Wilson said he will continue to make no comment.
According to state regulators, Bugman Pest and Lawn was found to have some 3,500 violations between April 2009 and February, 2010. Many of those violations were related to poor record keeping.
However, Nocks allegedly used the pesticide numerous times between April 9, 2009, and Feb. 5, 2010, and other Bugman employees also allegedly violated federal regulations in the chemical’s usage.
Four-year-old Rebecca Toone and her 15-month-old sister Rachel died in early February. The medical examiner’s office determined the children died after being exposed to aluminum phosphide, a pesticide sold under the brand name Fumitoxen, which was used in getting rid of field mice around the Toone’s Layton home.
Coleman Nocks, the employee of the Bountiful-based extermination company, who used the chemical at the Toone home, will be arraigned June 8 in 2nd District Court on two counts of negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor.
Nocks is accused of placing more than a pound of Fumitoxen a few feet from the Toone family’s front porch and garage.
Family members became ill that night and went to the emergency room believing they may have carbon monoxide poisoning. Four-year-old Rebecca died the next day. Baby Rachel died Feb. 9.
Attorneys and state regulators will meet Thursday to determine a date for hearings on the civil allegations against Bugman Pest and Lawn.
Larry Lewis, spokesperson for the state Department of Agriculture, said a scheduling meeting has been set to determine when those hearings will take place.
Lewis could say little regarding the case because of pending court administrative action, “We’re trying not to have this tried in the media,” Lewis said. “We want to make sure the hearing officer has as fair an explanation of what happened that day as they can.”
However, he did say that the state has had few complaints of residential violations in the use of Fumitoxen.
Lewis said the Environmental Protection Agency has changed the regulations to prohibit the chemical’s use in residential settings.
The chemical’s main use has always been in agricultural settings, to rid farms of small rodents from grain and feed storage areas.
It may still be used in such settings, “with restrictions,” Lewis said. That means it cannot be used in areas near any buildings where people or animals live.
mwilliams@davisclipper.com
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