Couple to plead guilty in toxic pet food case

A Las Vegas couple and their company have agreed to plead guilty in connection with imported Chinese-made pet food ingredients tainted with melamine that may have killed thousands of dogs and cats in 2007.

“We have a plea deal, but I can’t comment on it until the plea is accepted by the court,” Stephen Miller said Wednesday.

Miller, his wife Sally Miller and their company ChemNutra are charged with 13 misdemeanor counts of introduction of adulterated food into interstate commerce, 13 misdemeanor counts of introduction of misbranded food into interstate commerce and one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Their defense attorney filed a document on May 27 that disclosed the plea agreements. It’s not immediately clear to which counts they will plead guilty on June 16.

Stephen Miller continues in the business of importing pet food ingredients under eosdirect.com but that Web site was taken down from the Internet Wednesday morning, following news coverage of the plea agreements. The Web site says that it is under construction.

Don Ledford, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office, said the office couldn’t discuss any plea agreement until it had been approved by a judge.

The Millers and ChemNutra, along with two Chinese companies, were indicted in February 2008 on charges alleging they imported wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine, which was then sold to pet food makers. Thousands of cats and dogs reportedly sickened or died after eating the tainted food.

Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. and Suzhou Textiles, Silk, Light Industrial Products Arts and Crafts I/E Co. were also indicted.

The indictments alleged that Suzhou Textiles, an export broker, mislabeled 800 metric tons of tainted wheat gluten manufactured by Xuzhou to avoid inspection in China. Suzhou then did not properly declare the contaminated product it shipped to the U.S. as a material to be used in food, the indictment said.

According to the indictment, ChemNutra picked up the melamine-tainted product at a port of entry in Kansas City, then sold it to makers of various brands of pet foods. The indictment alleges that Xuzhou added the melamine to artificially boost the protein content of the gluten to meet the requirements specified in Suzhou’s contract with ChemNutra.

Prosecutors said adding the melamine, which would allow it to pass chemical inspections for protein content, was cheaper than actually adding protein to the gluten.

Prosecutors added at the time that they weren’t alleging that the Millers and ChemNutra knew that the product was toxic, only that they were aware the product had been shipped into the U.S. under false pretenses and failed to notify their customers.

In an exclusive interview, Miller told the Review-Journal in 2007 that he first learned of allegations that the wheat gluten was tainted in March of that year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration contacted him at a trade show in Shanghai and told him melamine was detected in the wheat gluten he imported from China.

“I was just totally stunned,” Miller told the newspaper. “It was out of left field. No one had ever heard of malamine.

I didn’t even know what it was.” The chemical is used in plastics and as a fire retardant.

Miller said he relied on a certificate of analysis from the manufacturer, which indicated the products were pure.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.