(AP) — A pest control company will pay more than $9 million in criminal fines tied to the use of a banned pesticide that sickened a Wilmington family on vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2015.
The News Journal of Wilmington reports that the U.S. Department of Justice says Terminix was sentenced Monday after admitting to using a pesticide called methyl bromide at 14 locations, including the St. John resort where the Esmond family was vacationing.
Stephen Esmond became paralyzed in March 2015 soon after checking into a condo on St. John that was located above another unit in which Terminix exterminators had sprayed the odorless neurotoxin. His teenage sons were hit hard as well, and remained in critical condition for weeks after the exposure.
