William Wright
David Fincher
Two former Explo Systems Inc., are due in court Monday.
Court has been set for June 1 for Explo owners David Fincher, 65, of Burns, Tennessee, and David Smith, 57, of Winchester, Kentucky. Their cases will be heard together by 26th Judicial District Judge Mike Craig.
The case for William Terry Wright, 59, of Bossier City, will be heard August 3. His case is set to be heard by 26th Judicial District Judge Mike Nerren.
All three are charged with unlawful storage of explosives, reckless use of explosives, failure to obtain magazine license(s), failure to properly mark explosive material, failure to keep accurate inventory and conspiracy to commit each of the crimes.
All three have pled not guilty.
In all, six employees were arrested and indicted by a grand jury in June 2013. The other three employees were Lionel Koons, inventory control manager, Todd Dietrich, plant engineer, both of Haughton and Michael Kile, quality service manager, of Bossier City.
Explo Systems Inc., came under intense scrutiny following an explosion in October 2012 that rocked communities all over the area, shattering windows and shaking the very foundations of some businesses and homes. The Louisiana State Police began an investigation into the incident, in the end discovering nearly 16 million pounds of M6 propellant improperly stored at Camp Minden.
Early Thursday morning, the Environmental Protection Agency announced an agreement has been reached to fund the removal of the M6. Some $28 million has been released by the Department of Justice to begin the process of awarding a contract to Explosive Services International, a Baton Rouge-based company selected to destroy the M6 propellant.