Investigator cancels talk on Santa Clara waste plant probe after threat of litigation

The lead investigator in a 2014 explosion at the Santa Clara Waste Water Co. plant canceled a presentation Tuesday night after receiving a threatening letter from the owners who fear it might jeopardize the reopening of the facility.

An attorney for the owners, C3 Capital Partners of Kansas City, Missouri, warned the retired Ventura County District Attorney's investigator Jeff Barry that he should be "extremely careful" about what he disclosed now that he is a private citizen.

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The protections Barry had in his official capacity as a county investigator are "gone and like everyone else, you are subject to civil liability, including punitive damages, if you make or republish any false or defamatory statements about our clients," said the letter from Greer Lang, an attorney representing two investment entities for the private lender C3 Capital Partners.

Those investors loaned money to Santa Clara Waste Water to pay for the environmental cleanup of the chemical explosion and have a $45 million debt against the property, she said.

Barry planned to make a presentation called "The Hazardous Truth" on the investigation into the Nov. 18, 2014, explosion. More than 70 people showed up for Tuesday's event at a Santa Paula movie theater, where Barry's attorney informed them that his client would not be speaking in light of the letter.

His attorney, Ron Bamieh, said later he advised Barry against the talk because his client did not want to bear the costs of defending himself against litigation. Bamieh said he thought the claims in Lang's letter were meritless. Barry declined to comment.

Lang said her clients didn't intend to prevent Barry from making his presentation but rather wanted only to warn him not to make false or defamatory statements, including the republication of any false testimony given during the grand jury's proceedings.

Barry said last week he would present only information already in the public record, including details from testimony before the local grand jury that indicted the company and several of its officials on various charges, including conspiracy to commit a crime and the disposal of hazardous waste. All pleaded guilty or no contest.

Lang said she wrote the letter after seeing Facebook posts and promotions of Barry's planned talk that she found inflammatory and inaccurate.

She also questioned the timing of the presentation six days before county planning officials are scheduled in Santa Paula to present an overview of RI-NU Services Inc. proposal to reopen the plant at 815 Mission Rock Road near Santa Paula.

Lang said the owners did not want people to make a connection between the events leading up to the explosion and RI-NU's application to reopen the facility. She said none of the people associated with Santa Clara Waste Water at the time of the explosion have anything to do with RI-NU.

"They won't have any involvement," she said.

Kathleen Wilson covers the Ventura County government, including the county health system, politics and social services. Reach her at [email protected] or 805-437-0271.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Investigator cancels talk on waste plant probe after litigation threat