The owners of a metal recycling company which has been in a decades-long dispute with a public high school in Watts as well as Los Angeles County were jailed on Thursday after their business was found to be in violation of a pre-trial agreement.
After Atlas Metal Company’s owners, Matthew and Gary Weisenberg, were indicted in September for mishandling hazardous waste and thus causing an explosion next to Jordan High School, they were released from custody with the promise they would not violate any safety laws and comply with all local environmental requirements.
But an inspection last week found the company to be in violation of the agreement by having highly combustible items, such as compressed gas cylinders.
The metal company’s owners had agreed to a deal in which the Watts-based business would not have highly combustible objects, the LA County District Attorney’s office said.
After the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to revoke the owners’ pretrial release, a judge Thursday agreed and ordered the Weisenbergs to be detained again on $1 million bail.
A bail hearing was set for Monday, March 17.
A former student at Jordan High Sch9ool said the judge’s decision means the metal company’s owners are finally feeling “the consequences for their decades of damage to the Watts community.”
“We remain hopeful that this step signals the end of their reckless and dangerous operations and the harm caused to generations of students at Jordan High,” said Genesis Cruz.
The metal recycling plan has been the subject of multiple lawsuits, including one from the Los Angeles Unified School District.
“That plant should not be so close to a school,” LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said. “We are investigating, and we are working collaboratively with the district attorney.”
Representatives of Atlas did not respond to a request for comment.
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