OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An eastern Nebraska fireworks company has been sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay a $35,000 fine for falsifying work safety records.
U.S. Attorney for Nebraska Joe Kelly announced that Wild Willy’s Fireworks, of Springfield, was sentenced in Omaha’s federal court on Thursday. The company’s representative and owner, Dan Williams, pleaded guilty to the charge in August.
In January 2017, an Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspector was not allowed to enter Wild Willy’s for an inspection and told to come back the next day, prosecutors said. In the interim, Williams instructed a forklift operator trainer to falsely complete certificates for four employees stating that each had received forklift training, when they hadn’t received such training. Each of the certificates were backdated to 2015.
An employee of Wild Willy’s later emailed the falsified certificates to the OSHA inspector.
