Zambelli ordered to pay penalties in theft of fireworks

Zambelli International Fireworks must pay $200,000 in penalties for not reporting the loss of some 63,000 commercial grade fireworks stolen by a former employee in 2014.

The New Castle company waived indictment Monday in federal court and pleaded to a single count of failure to report loss of explosive material, a misdemeanor brought by the U.S. attorney’s office in January following an investigation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

U.S. District Judge David Cercone immediately ordered the business to pay a $195,000 administrative forfeiture, which will go to ATF, and a $5,000 fine.

The amounts were worked out in a plea deal with federal prosecutors, who refused to comment.

“We regret the situation, and we accept responsibility, and we would like to move on,” said attorney Barry Hartman, who entered the plea on behalf of Zambelli.

The company had previously been suspended from selling or shipping fireworks for two weeks, from March 5 through March 19, although employees still reported to work.

The case began during an unrelated criminal case in 2014, according to Zambelli, when state police discovered the stolen fireworks in an employee’s house.

The worker was fired, but it wasn’t clear Monday if he was prosecuted or what happened in the case. Mr. Hartman and Mark Rush, another lawyer representing Zambelli, said they didn’t know the results of the investigation, although they said the stolen fireworks have not been returned to

Zambelli. In such cases, Mr. Hartman said, police retain the stolen explosives.

Following the discovery of the missing fireworks, ATF began an investigation because fireworks companies are required to keep track of their inventories and report on them regularly.

Agents discovered that the company was aware that the explosives were missing from its main warehouse in Edinburg, outside New Castle, in 2014 but didn’t report the loss to federal or state authorities within the required 24 hours.

Ed Meyer, managing partner at Zambelli, said in a statement issued in January that the company worked with ATF to shore up its security and inventory procedures and that none of its clients were impacted by the suspension or the investigation.

“This is a very serious issue that relates to poor record keeping,” Mr. Meyer said, “not to the strength of Zambelli Fireworks.”

Founded in 1893, Zambelli produces hundreds of shows a year across the U.S.