Las Vegas company crafts plea deal in case of tainted pet food

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, Las Vegas-based 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 May 27 that disclosed the plea agreements. It was not immediately clear which counts they will plead guilty to June 16.

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

ChemNutra's business license with the city of Las Vegas and incorporation at the Nevada secretary of state's office are both listed as active.

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

ChemNutra was an obscure company with three workers, but news of a product recall announced by the company in March 2007 quickly richocheted around the country. Television news teams staked out ChemNutra's local offices, and a news helicopter buzzed overhead for hours.

Although thousands of animal deaths nationally were blamed on the tainted pet food, there were no pet deaths linked to the scare locally.

Mauer Animal Clinic at 6115 W. Charleston Blvd. tested more than 50 pets, most of them dogs, during the melamine scare, a spokesman said. None of the animals tested positive for melamine, though the clinic noted that two young dogs died in suspicious circumstances two months before the disclosure.

By the time the recall was announced, the dogs' remains were no longer available for testing, the spokesman said.

"A lot of (pet owners) were very concerned," he said. "They felt very betrayed by the dog food companies."

Steve Stern, former spokesman for ChemNutra and owner of Stern and Co., said: "For a period of time, there was extreme concern in the pet community. It was resolved appropriately by ChemNutra and the FDA, and it's been resolved appropriately by the court system."

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 were 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 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 United States 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 said at the time that they weren't alleging that the Millers and ChemNutra knew the product was toxic, only that they were aware the product had been shipped into the United States 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 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 melamine. 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.