The U.S. Probation Office, in a pre-sentencing report, recommended life in prison for Stewart Parnell, the former chief executive of Peanut Corporation of America, says Food Safety News. Parnell and two other defendants were convicted of criminal charges in an outbreak of salmonella from peanut butter produced by PCA in 2008 and 2009. The recommended sentences for the three “far exceeded earlier estimates” of likely punishment and “could be the most severe penalties ever imposed for food safety-related infractions since federal regulation of food started a century ago,” said Food Safety News.
The recommended sentences included from 17.5-21.8 years in prison for Parnell’s brother, Michael, a peanut broker, and from 8-10 years for Mary Wilkerson, the quality-assurance manager for the company.
U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands will announce his decision on punishment at sentencing scheduled for Sept. 21 in Albany, Georgia. Parnell’s attorney called the recommendation of a life sentence “truly absurd.” The defendants were convicted last summer on charges ranging from fraud and conspiracy to selling misbranded and adulterated food. The outbreak was linked to nine deaths and more than 700 illnesses.