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Baker man, trucking company sentenced on charges from 2012 explosion in Wibaux

Posted at 1:15 PM, Nov 11, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-11 14:34:09-05

Donald E. Wood, Jr. of Baker, and his trucking company, Woody’s Trucking LLC, were sentenced in U.S. District Court for convictions on multiple charges stemming from a 2012 explosion at an oil and gas processing facility in Wibaux, according to the Department of Justice.

Wood was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison and three years of supervised released. Woody’s Trucking was sentenced to four years of probation.

The judge also ordered forfeiture of a personal money judgment of $644,689.70 and ordered restitution of $644,689.70. The monetary penalties total $1,289,370.40 to be paid by Wood and Woody’s Trucking.

A federal jury convicted Wood and his company on 13 of 14 counts after an eight-day trial in May. Both defendants were convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, obstruction of justice and hazardous materials shipping paper and placarding violations. The one count of acquittal related to a placarding violation.

In a sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Dake said the case was about Wood “engaging in deceitful, fraudulent and dangerous conduct, manipulating his otherwise legitimate business practices, in order to line his own pockets.”

A press release states the case arose after a December 29, 2012 explosion at Custom Carbon Processing, Inc.’s facility in Wibaux, in which three employees were seriously injured. A driver for Woody’s Trucking had loaded natural gas condensate, or “drip gas,” from a pipeline station in Watford City, N.D., and hauled it to Custom Carbon Processing, a facility that processes and recycles slop oil.

Previous bills of lading that accompanied Woody’s shipments falsely identified the product as “slop oil and water,” which is a non-hazardous substance.

On the date of the explosion, the driver was pumping from the truck’s front tank into the CCP facility, when flammable vapors from the drip gas ignited and caused an explosion, injuring three employees. The tanks on the truck burned for eight days.

It was determined later that the truck contained drip gas and not slop oil and water. Drip gas is a hazardous material and the truck was not placarded to indicate it held a flammable liquid.

Witnesses at trial testified that Wood, the CEO of the trucking company, directed the driver to place a falsified bill of lading in the burned-out truck several days after the explosion. The reason was to cover up the fact that the company was hauling drip gas without placards, according to the press release.

The false bill of lading also was submitted to the company’s insurance company and to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In addition, the company had no insurance coverage for hauling drip gas.

Later, employees of the burned facility sued Woody’s Trucking, the owners of the CCP facility and others for negligence in a civil action. Woody’s submitted the lawsuit to its insurance company for payment of costs, attorney fees and payment of the eventual settlements to the injured workers.

The insurance company agreed to settle the claims but always maintained that Woody’s Trucking failed to disclose it was transporting hazardous materials.