A federal grand jury has indicted an exterminator and a pest control company in connection with the poisoning deaths of two girls in Utah last year, officials said.
Police charged Coleman Nocks, 63, and Bugman Pest and Lawn, the company he worked for, with multiple counts of unlawful use of a registered pesticide.
Nocks used the pesticide “Fumitoxin” to kill rodents at the home of the Toone family in Layton, Utah, in February 2010. The prosecutor alleges Nocks used too much Fumitoxin and sprayed it too close to the family’s home, causing the deaths of 4-year-old Rebecca Toone and 15-month-old Rachel Toone.
Nocks and the company face up to one year in prison and a $25,000 fine for each of the three counts against them.
Since the girls’ deaths, Fumitoxin has been banned by the EPA from use in residential areas.