1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,400 In this episode of American Greed, CEO Stuart Parnell starts with peanuts and 2 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:10,820 makes millions by cutting corners and exploiting workers. 3 00:00:11,460 --> 00:00:13,040 It doesn't run like a plantation. 4 00:00:13,500 --> 00:00:18,640 Parnell's peanut butter goes to stores, schools, hospitals, and U .S. troops. 5 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:21,740 But his factories are criminally dirty. 6 00:00:22,300 --> 00:00:26,520 We were trying to seal up holes in the wall to keep mice from coming in. 7 00:00:27,210 --> 00:00:31,970 We found evidence of roaches, rats, mice, beetles. 8 00:00:32,350 --> 00:00:36,850 The filth breeds one of the biggest food poisoning outbreaks in U .S. history. 9 00:00:37,890 --> 00:00:39,590 Parnell knows the risk. 10 00:00:40,510 --> 00:00:46,990 But raking in $30 million a year, he instructs workers to just ship it. I'm 11 00:00:46,990 --> 00:00:51,750 looking at him after seeing those emails thinking, that's the devil right there. 12 00:00:52,330 --> 00:00:53,870 That's the epitome of greed. 13 00:00:54,410 --> 00:00:56,990 These pictures should be in the dictionary next to the word greed. 14 00:00:57,430 --> 00:01:03,150 Due to their willful and knowing actions, they killed nine people. 15 00:01:16,470 --> 00:01:20,610 This could end up being one of the largest food recalls in U .S. history. 16 00:01:21,450 --> 00:01:25,250 Recall comes after federal officials confirmed salmonella contamination at a 17 00:01:25,250 --> 00:01:26,250 Georgia facility. 18 00:01:26,810 --> 00:01:30,610 And now the recall is being expanded to include every item made from peanut 19 00:01:30,610 --> 00:01:33,430 products at that plant in the past two years. 20 00:01:33,730 --> 00:01:34,730 Peanut butter. 21 00:01:34,950 --> 00:01:40,010 It's a multi -billion dollar a year industry and one of the most popular 22 00:01:40,010 --> 00:01:41,170 on store shelves. 23 00:01:41,570 --> 00:01:44,950 But in January 2009, it's deadly. 24 00:01:45,550 --> 00:01:48,830 Peanut products are laced with the salmonella bacteria. 25 00:01:49,290 --> 00:01:50,490 It's sickening. 26 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:53,520 and even killing people from coast to coast. 27 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:58,500 There's a race against time to trace the source and stop what's turning into a 28 00:01:58,500 --> 00:01:59,620 nationwide panic. 29 00:02:00,380 --> 00:02:04,440 Food and Drug Administration is advising Americans not to eat any products made 30 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,900 with peanut butter or peanut paste until further notice. And that includes 31 00:02:07,900 --> 00:02:12,180 cookies and cakes, ice cream, as well as other foods containing peanut butter 32 00:02:12,180 --> 00:02:13,720 made at this Georgia plant. 33 00:02:15,210 --> 00:02:20,050 Food safety watchdog attorney Bill Marler knows what this kind of 34 00:02:20,050 --> 00:02:21,130 looks like. 35 00:02:21,710 --> 00:02:26,250 I've been involved in every major and many minor foodborne illness outbreaks 36 00:02:26,250 --> 00:02:30,290 that have occurred in the United States in the last 20 -plus years. 37 00:02:31,410 --> 00:02:37,630 They're all tragic, but they all appropriately freak people out. 38 00:02:38,470 --> 00:02:43,790 By February 2009, Congress is demanding answers from this man. 39 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:49,640 Stuart Parnell, President and CEO of Peanut Corporation of America. 40 00:02:51,460 --> 00:02:55,960 One of the things I'm going to do today is ask Mr. Parnell from Peanut 41 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:00,200 Corporation of America if he'd like to open this and sample some of the 42 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,720 that he didn't think were a problem in sending out for the rest of us to eat. 43 00:03:04,920 --> 00:03:08,200 Stuart Parnell has apparently lost his appetite. 44 00:03:08,540 --> 00:03:11,240 He declines the offer to taste the products. 45 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:13,800 And with good reason. 46 00:03:14,380 --> 00:03:17,380 Evidence is mounting that this was no accident. 47 00:03:18,500 --> 00:03:22,420 For two years, the operators of the Georgia plant at the center of the 48 00:03:22,420 --> 00:03:26,120 investigation may have knowingly sold contaminated products. 49 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:30,380 Stuart Parnell's peanut empire is about to come crashing down. 50 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:33,880 But it was never supposed to end this way. 51 00:03:35,620 --> 00:03:40,680 In the rolling hills of central Virginia, peanuts are a major cash crop. 52 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:47,020 It's here that Hugh Parnell, Stewart's father, stakes his claim with the tiny 53 00:03:47,020 --> 00:03:49,240 company Parnell's Peanuts. 54 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:55,980 In 1977, Hugh overhauls a roasting facility in Gorman, Texas, and 55 00:03:55,980 --> 00:04:00,780 rechristens his namesake company as Peanut Corporation of America. 56 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:05,760 By 1994, revenues soar to more than $20 million. 57 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:09,360 Hugh cashes out and retires. 58 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,080 But peanuts are a family tradition. 59 00:04:12,980 --> 00:04:17,140 So in 2000, Stuart Parnell buys PCA. 60 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:22,960 Food safety advocate and ethics professor Darren Detweiler says Stuart's 61 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:29,220 ambitions are bigger than his father's. When Stuart Parnell took over the Peanut 62 00:04:29,220 --> 00:04:34,860 Corporation of America, he radically expanded the company, both in terms of 63 00:04:34,860 --> 00:04:37,080 and the amount of profit that it was making. 64 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:43,420 PCA expands to another plant in Blakely, Georgia, and at its height, Stuart 65 00:04:43,420 --> 00:04:46,740 Parnell triples revenue in just three years. 66 00:04:47,620 --> 00:04:48,820 He's on the move. 67 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:53,220 His brother Michael becomes PCA's number one peanut broker. 68 00:04:55,260 --> 00:05:01,740 His brother was now a buyer of product for him, and it wasn't just peanuts. 69 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:07,280 Peanut powder or peanut dust that was being used in a lot of different 70 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:10,640 And that's great business for him because now he's able to use this 71 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:11,880 version of the product. 72 00:05:12,380 --> 00:05:18,500 From ice cream to energy bars to frozen Thai dinners to dog food, 73 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:22,880 PCA lands new clients throughout the food supply chain. 74 00:05:23,860 --> 00:05:27,200 But PCA is also hiding dirty little secrets. 75 00:05:28,020 --> 00:05:30,980 Shoddy sanitation, low -grade peanuts. 76 00:05:31,770 --> 00:05:37,190 and the corporate culture built upon intimidation, low wages, and 77 00:05:37,190 --> 00:05:38,190 of workers. 78 00:05:38,690 --> 00:05:45,350 In Texas, the management was run by a handful of white guys, with 79 00:05:45,350 --> 00:05:48,370 all the workers being Mexican -Americans. 80 00:05:48,690 --> 00:05:53,370 And in Georgia, it was run by a handful of white guys, and all the workers were 81 00:05:53,370 --> 00:05:54,370 African -American. 82 00:05:54,470 --> 00:05:57,250 It was like, you know, a plantation. 83 00:05:57,710 --> 00:05:59,510 It was run like a plantation. 84 00:06:00,830 --> 00:06:06,250 And just like those bad old days, the work is profitable for the man on top. 85 00:06:08,050 --> 00:06:12,750 Parnell snaps up another company in Plainview, Texas, and a roasting and 86 00:06:12,750 --> 00:06:18,110 blanching company in Virginia, close to his custom -built home on a five -acre 87 00:06:18,110 --> 00:06:19,490 estate in Lynchburg. 88 00:06:20,430 --> 00:06:26,230 Parnell runs his growing PCA dynasty from a converted garage behind the 89 00:06:26,550 --> 00:06:29,110 The Parnell brothers especially were making a pretty good living. 90 00:06:29,580 --> 00:06:32,660 Brokering and selling this product around the United States. 91 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:36,880 PCA processes around 2 % of America's peanuts. 92 00:06:37,500 --> 00:06:42,800 Yet they supply product to more than 200 companies, including giants like 93 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:44,640 Kellogg's and General Mills. 94 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:48,280 PCA had a pretty broad business. 95 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:50,000 It had a nice little corner of the market. 96 00:06:50,220 --> 00:06:54,480 That 2 % was, you know, pretty valuable. 97 00:06:54,900 --> 00:06:58,300 Schools, nursing homes, FEMA relief kits. 98 00:06:58,750 --> 00:07:02,630 Even America's troops overseas rely on PCA. 99 00:07:03,170 --> 00:07:09,030 Their products primarily went into then other products, whether peanut butter 100 00:07:09,030 --> 00:07:13,690 cookies or crackers. And they were these big tins of peanut butter that 101 00:07:13,690 --> 00:07:19,750 primarily went to hospitals and opal combs. I think that tells you a lot 102 00:07:19,750 --> 00:07:24,370 sort of how integrated our food system is that you don't really even know who's 103 00:07:24,370 --> 00:07:25,370 making your stuff. 104 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:28,640 So who's making sure the food is safe? 105 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:34,180 Federal food safety agencies are mandated to monitor and inspect 106 00:07:34,900 --> 00:07:40,080 But with limited resources, these agencies depend on private companies to 107 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:41,260 their own operations. 108 00:07:43,140 --> 00:07:48,620 Perhaps surprisingly, given the scandal that will later emerge, Stuart Parnell 109 00:07:48,620 --> 00:07:51,500 sits on the government's peanut standard board. 110 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:54,380 The fox is guarding the hen house. 111 00:07:56,140 --> 00:07:58,280 And the hen house is a filthy mess. 112 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:07,420 To maximize profits and to minimize expenses, this peanut dust 113 00:08:07,420 --> 00:08:10,840 and powder would sit there in the open, uncovered. 114 00:08:11,580 --> 00:08:16,100 And during that time, there was rat infestation. They found holes in the 115 00:08:16,100 --> 00:08:19,760 and water would gather and bird droppings would get into the water. They 116 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:21,040 seep into this product. 117 00:08:21,860 --> 00:08:24,480 And sometimes he literally had employees. 118 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:29,500 sweep off some of the rat poop. This was just business as usual, the idea of put 119 00:08:29,500 --> 00:08:30,500 it out there. 120 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:36,780 Fortunately for the consumer, most major food conglomerations, like Parnell's 121 00:08:36,780 --> 00:08:41,240 biggest clients, want to make sure their providers are meeting safety standards. 122 00:08:41,860 --> 00:08:44,880 They require independent laboratory testing. 123 00:08:46,020 --> 00:08:52,680 So PCA hires several labs, including Charles Dybels, to test its peanut 124 00:08:52,680 --> 00:08:55,320 samples. Food manufacturers want to make food. 125 00:08:55,640 --> 00:09:01,000 They don't necessarily want to do all of that in -house. It has to do with core 126 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:05,080 competencies. Their core competencies are not to run laps. That's what we do. 127 00:09:05,620 --> 00:09:09,760 Accurate testing takes anywhere from 28 hours to five days. 128 00:09:10,620 --> 00:09:16,560 Dymo looks for several pathogens, including the Salmonella bacterium, 129 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:22,280 cause vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, and in some cases, death. 130 00:09:23,050 --> 00:09:27,050 At each stage of the process, you're whittling that down to your target. And 131 00:09:27,050 --> 00:09:31,170 then you finally get your target organism by what we call a confirmation 132 00:09:31,430 --> 00:09:36,190 It's the last step in the process where we can say, yay or nay. This is 133 00:09:36,190 --> 00:09:37,970 salmonella or this is not salmonella. 134 00:09:38,250 --> 00:09:40,750 And if the results come back positive? 135 00:09:41,330 --> 00:09:46,150 One positive takes precedence over however many negatives you may have 136 00:09:46,150 --> 00:09:48,390 that lot. You don't release it into commerce. 137 00:09:48,870 --> 00:09:53,490 Not only that, though, if the product itself is contaminated, all the 138 00:09:53,490 --> 00:09:56,610 that that product touched is now contaminated. 139 00:09:57,350 --> 00:10:03,710 When American Greed returns, PCA test results are coming back positive for 140 00:10:03,710 --> 00:10:07,270 salmonella. But that's an easy fix. 141 00:10:07,850 --> 00:10:13,930 Stu Parnell had his quality assurance manager literally take documents and use 142 00:10:13,930 --> 00:10:18,870 liquid paper to cover up the date and put a new date on it to satisfy food 143 00:10:18,870 --> 00:10:21,010 companies that wanted to buy that product. 144 00:10:35,530 --> 00:10:40,650 By the mid -2000s, Stuart Parnell is making big money in peanuts. 145 00:10:41,670 --> 00:10:47,210 But Parnell is also turning a blind eye to glaring sanitation problems at his 146 00:10:47,210 --> 00:10:51,850 factories. And he runs roughshod over food safety standards. 147 00:10:53,210 --> 00:10:57,450 Some of the lots that they were shipping out didn't even get tested. It was 148 00:10:57,450 --> 00:10:59,850 economic to him, and he didn't care about the consumer. 149 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:06,020 Parnell ships products out the door before getting test results at least six 150 00:11:06,020 --> 00:11:09,080 times between 2004 and 2006. 151 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:15,220 Even more troubling, some of the tests that are being performed come back 152 00:11:15,220 --> 00:11:16,940 positive for Salmonella. 153 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,580 And Salmonella is bad for business. 154 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:28,420 Stewart's brother is getting all these deals put together and they need to feed 155 00:11:28,420 --> 00:11:29,660 the system. 156 00:11:30,709 --> 00:11:33,890 And, you know, they're getting contracts with Kellogg. They're getting contracts 157 00:11:33,890 --> 00:11:37,250 with a variety of other middlemen. They're saying, give me, give me, give 158 00:11:37,250 --> 00:11:39,190 give me, give me the peanut butter. Give me the peanut chips. 159 00:11:39,490 --> 00:11:45,550 And they couldn't keep up with the orders because they kept getting 160 00:11:45,550 --> 00:11:46,550 salmonella tests. 161 00:11:47,170 --> 00:11:52,390 If he pulls the product, Parnell risks plunging into a financial abyss of debt. 162 00:11:52,670 --> 00:11:55,650 So he plays a dangerous game of Russian roulette. 163 00:11:56,670 --> 00:11:57,670 Here's how it works. 164 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:03,920 In any given vat of peanuts, salmonella may exist only in isolated pockets. 165 00:12:04,660 --> 00:12:06,720 Parnell exploits this fact. 166 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:12,900 They came up with this very intricate scheme where they would take more 167 00:12:12,900 --> 00:12:19,480 tests on a lot than they would normally do it, and then they would send it out 168 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:22,040 to multiple different labs. 169 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:26,180 And some of the labs would come back negative. 170 00:12:26,940 --> 00:12:28,440 Some of them would come back positive. 171 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:34,380 A positive result would force any ethical owner to dump the entire lot in 172 00:12:34,380 --> 00:12:35,380 local landfill. 173 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:41,420 What they would do is they would get rid of those test results and only use the 174 00:12:41,420 --> 00:12:45,040 certificate analysis that said negative. 175 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,140 This cherry -picking of data works for a while. 176 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:54,560 But then Parnell and his quality assurance team abandon any pretense of 177 00:12:54,560 --> 00:12:55,560 science. 178 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:58,960 They simply rewrite the bad test results. 179 00:12:59,980 --> 00:13:05,180 Eventually, they just started forging the certificate of analysis to say they 180 00:13:05,180 --> 00:13:06,180 were all negative. 181 00:13:06,340 --> 00:13:12,300 And you wonder what the hell they were thinking about. They don't bother 182 00:13:12,300 --> 00:13:16,260 customers that test results come back positive for salmonella. 183 00:13:16,740 --> 00:13:21,540 And when customers like Bloomfield Bakers learn from their own lab tests 184 00:13:21,540 --> 00:13:26,510 the PCA peanuts they're using are tainted, Well, Stewart's just as shocked 185 00:13:26,510 --> 00:13:27,449 they are. 186 00:13:27,450 --> 00:13:32,570 So when somebody was saying, hey, it tested positive, it was like, oh, why 187 00:13:32,570 --> 00:13:33,570 that do that? 188 00:13:34,090 --> 00:13:39,250 On October 5, 2006, Stewart writes to Bloomfield Baker's director of 189 00:13:39,610 --> 00:13:41,630 I am dumbfounded. 190 00:13:41,990 --> 00:13:47,750 In over 26 years of business, he says he's not found any instances, even 191 00:13:47,870 --> 00:13:49,350 of a salmonella problem. 192 00:13:50,670 --> 00:13:54,790 Year after year, emails revealed the real Stuart Parnell. 193 00:13:55,910 --> 00:14:02,030 He complains that lab tests are breaking me. When employees ask for critical 194 00:14:02,030 --> 00:14:06,690 test equipment, Stuart says, only if we will not get screwed. 195 00:14:07,570 --> 00:14:10,330 This is costing us huge dollars. 196 00:14:10,770 --> 00:14:13,650 Lie about the sales if it saves us money. 197 00:14:14,710 --> 00:14:17,090 The lies ensure a cushy existence. 198 00:14:17,630 --> 00:14:19,470 He has a horse country estate. 199 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,220 And the avid outdoorsman hits the waves in his powerboat. 200 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:26,120 Or heads skyward. 201 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:31,260 Parnell is a licensed pilot and owns a two -seater Mooney M20. 202 00:14:32,300 --> 00:14:34,840 He enjoys weekends at Oakwood Country Club. 203 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:42,000 And an odd touch of luxury in his otherwise dank Texas plant, a custom 204 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,740 tub to soothe away any frayed nerves. 205 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:49,500 Life is good for PCA's man in the big chair. 206 00:14:50,340 --> 00:14:52,240 Revenues are almost $30 million. 207 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,160 But one place the money isn't going is factories. 208 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,940 The man owns an airplane, so obviously he wasn't starving to that. 209 00:15:02,220 --> 00:15:05,600 We wouldn't put any money into this company, and we're always complaining 210 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:12,380 money. PCA hires Kenneth Kendrick in July 2006 as an assistant plant manager 211 00:15:12,380 --> 00:15:13,380 Plainview, Texas. 212 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:18,880 With a background in lab testing for the meat industry, he should be an instant 213 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:22,940 asset. But it seemed like I'd stepped back in time 50 years. 214 00:15:23,460 --> 00:15:27,480 Something was always being welded and patched back together, and you could 215 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:30,780 tell by looking at it, it was over -equipment. 216 00:15:31,100 --> 00:15:37,640 Their idea of a lab and quality control on that was making sure the peanuts were 217 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:38,640 the right color. 218 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:41,160 It's even worse than he thinks. 219 00:15:42,010 --> 00:15:45,950 Stuart Parnell hasn't registered his Plainview plant with the Food and Drug 220 00:15:45,950 --> 00:15:46,950 Administration. 221 00:15:47,270 --> 00:15:50,430 The agency has no idea it even exists. 222 00:15:51,650 --> 00:15:53,390 Kendrick's new job is off the grid. 223 00:15:54,170 --> 00:15:56,050 He's working at a ghost factory. 224 00:15:57,150 --> 00:15:59,570 Where were these problems? How were they being hidden? 225 00:16:00,010 --> 00:16:02,850 Well, it's hard to find those problems if you don't even know that the facility 226 00:16:02,850 --> 00:16:03,850 exists. 227 00:16:04,199 --> 00:16:06,240 ironically, in Plainview, Texas. 228 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:11,600 Within weeks of taking the job, Kendrick is appalled by what he finds. 229 00:16:11,980 --> 00:16:16,480 We were trying to fill up holes in the wall to keep mice from coming in. 230 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:21,200 I expected there would be, like, this routine lab testing and these things in 231 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:26,220 place that, you know, were just standard, and they just simply weren't 232 00:16:26,860 --> 00:16:30,220 The safety of the food was never a concern. 233 00:16:31,470 --> 00:16:35,870 I got alarmed at the amount of positive they were getting. We actually got on 234 00:16:35,870 --> 00:16:39,110 the phone with the quality manager at the time and said, hey, I'm available. 235 00:16:39,350 --> 00:16:42,110 If you need help, you know, I'm available. 236 00:16:42,410 --> 00:16:47,310 And his answer was basically, I actually like the positive because then maybe we 237 00:16:47,310 --> 00:16:48,990 can force the owner to take action. 238 00:16:49,350 --> 00:16:53,830 And I remember leaving that phone call thinking, God, this company is cheap. 239 00:16:55,180 --> 00:16:59,980 One of my favorite quotes from Parnell's email is, we have a lady in Texas who's 240 00:16:59,980 --> 00:17:04,920 good with the whiteout. So apparently other people were just taking the next 241 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:11,880 closest sample somebody had done and using that lab report and sending 242 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:13,339 it with the peanuts. 243 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:19,480 And when Kendrick offers to actually fix the problems rather than just cover 244 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:22,500 them up, this is the response he gets from Parnell. 245 00:17:23,050 --> 00:17:26,410 So I called him and said, hey, I used to work in a lab. I hear that you have 246 00:17:26,410 --> 00:17:28,710 this problem. He goes, I have Hartford insurance. 247 00:17:28,910 --> 00:17:31,890 Don't worry about it. I need to get back to work on other things. 248 00:17:32,890 --> 00:17:36,490 In November 2006, Kendrick quits. 249 00:17:37,150 --> 00:17:40,810 I'd been there four months. I thought something bad was going to happen here. 250 00:17:40,990 --> 00:17:45,770 You know, I knew something was going to go bad at some point, and I just didn't 251 00:17:45,770 --> 00:17:46,770 want to be part of it. 252 00:17:47,350 --> 00:17:48,830 When American Greed returns. 253 00:17:49,790 --> 00:17:54,330 Stuart Parnell's greed and corner -cutting take a human toll. 254 00:17:54,670 --> 00:17:57,030 Cancer couldn't claim her, but peanut butter did. 255 00:18:10,450 --> 00:18:16,050 Peanut Corporation of America is knowingly shipping salmonella -laced 256 00:18:16,370 --> 00:18:17,970 and they have been for years. 257 00:18:19,050 --> 00:18:24,750 CEO Stuart Parnell's emails spelled out his callous disregard for other people's 258 00:18:24,750 --> 00:18:27,570 health. He writes, no test results? 259 00:18:28,070 --> 00:18:29,330 Just ship it. 260 00:18:29,530 --> 00:18:31,650 I'll hold my breath again. 261 00:18:31,970 --> 00:18:33,050 Turn them loose. 262 00:18:33,510 --> 00:18:40,270 They were operating outside industry norms, and they willfully released 263 00:18:40,270 --> 00:18:41,249 that was contaminated. 264 00:18:41,250 --> 00:18:43,550 And they did it again and again and again. 265 00:18:43,930 --> 00:18:49,320 Former employee Kenneth Kendrick, disturbed by what he's seen, goes into 266 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:53,820 whistleblower mode and sends anonymous emails to health departments and food 267 00:18:53,820 --> 00:18:56,680 companies warning them about PCA. 268 00:18:57,300 --> 00:19:00,740 Unfortunately, his cries fall on deaf ears. 269 00:19:01,900 --> 00:19:07,080 I had sent anonymous emails to the Texas Department of Health. Now, they denied 270 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:10,720 getting any from a Mr. Kendrick. Well, I didn't send them under Mr. 271 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:14,280 Kendrick. I couldn't get the attention of anyone. 272 00:19:14,700 --> 00:19:17,200 That's, you know, your average Joe off the street. 273 00:19:18,250 --> 00:19:22,230 I never wanted to go in the press. I'm not good at this. I don't like this. 274 00:19:22,530 --> 00:19:23,870 There was no regulation. 275 00:19:24,130 --> 00:19:25,130 No one cared. 276 00:19:25,870 --> 00:19:31,710 Despite his frustration, or maybe because of it, Kendrick has an uneasy 277 00:19:31,710 --> 00:19:33,030 about PCA. 278 00:19:33,550 --> 00:19:37,550 I somehow had a feeling. I was like, I'm going to hear about this again someday. 279 00:19:38,330 --> 00:19:40,990 Someday arrives in September 2008. 280 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:47,380 In mild cases, salmonella poisoning causes painful abdominal cramps, fever, 281 00:19:47,580 --> 00:19:49,240 vomiting, and diarrhea. 282 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:56,720 But if it enters the bloodstream, salmonella can be deadly, especially for 283 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:58,100 very young and old. 284 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:04,020 The strain that we isolated from PCA was salmonella typhimurium. This is an 285 00:20:04,020 --> 00:20:05,020 organism that will kill. 286 00:20:06,020 --> 00:20:09,100 The people that it has the most... 287 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:14,500 adverse effects on are what we call immunocompromised, the elderly, infants, 288 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:16,140 small children, pregnant women. 289 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:21,220 By November 2008, those symptoms are popping up in clusters. 290 00:20:22,060 --> 00:20:28,300 At first, it's three states, then 12, 14, 28, 291 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:29,640 46. 292 00:20:30,980 --> 00:20:37,440 U .S. Senator Amy Klobuchar serves Minnesota, a state affected by the 293 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:42,280 The CDC and the FDA, everyone works together on these kinds of things, and 294 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:45,800 sometimes the state health departments discover something first, and it's 295 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:50,940 telling them. Half the people who fell sick fell sick before there was even any 296 00:20:50,940 --> 00:20:53,160 kind of consumer awareness or notice. 297 00:20:54,320 --> 00:21:00,560 That December in Perham, Minnesota, Jeff Allmer's mother Shirley is a living 298 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:06,000 miracle. In two years' time, she's beaten lung cancer, then brain cancer. 299 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:11,440 But she's still weak, and minor dehydration lands her in a rehab center 300 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:12,440 regain strength. 301 00:21:13,380 --> 00:21:16,680 Doctors say not to worry, she'll be home by Christmas. 302 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:22,260 She seemed to be having a better appetite and eating, and, you know, she 303 00:21:22,260 --> 00:21:25,800 particularly liked chicken and peanut butter toast. 304 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:29,280 It was a good thing that she ate those things. 305 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:34,460 But on December 21st, instead of planning a cancer -free Christmas with 306 00:21:34,460 --> 00:21:37,900 mom, Shirley's children get shocking news. 307 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:44,540 The doctors recommended that all the family get up to the hospital to see her 308 00:21:44,540 --> 00:21:46,620 because they didn't expect her to last that day. 309 00:21:47,620 --> 00:21:50,360 Shirley Allmer dies late that evening. 310 00:21:50,780 --> 00:21:56,120 Doctors think pneumonia is the culprit, but the medical examiner has a different 311 00:21:56,120 --> 00:21:57,120 conclusion. 312 00:21:57,740 --> 00:22:01,860 It came out in her autopsy. 313 00:22:02,510 --> 00:22:05,090 or the death certificate that she had sepsis. 314 00:22:05,870 --> 00:22:08,390 And sepsis is blood poisoning, basically. 315 00:22:09,430 --> 00:22:10,910 And we thought that was odd. 316 00:22:11,350 --> 00:22:14,590 Weeks later, Jeff happens upon something else. 317 00:22:14,910 --> 00:22:21,030 I was reading an Associated Press report that casually mentioned a 72 -year -old 318 00:22:21,030 --> 00:22:23,430 northern Minnesota woman died from salmonella poisoning. 319 00:22:23,970 --> 00:22:25,330 My mom's 72. 320 00:22:25,970 --> 00:22:29,250 She's up in northern Minnesota, and she had blood poisoning. 321 00:22:29,740 --> 00:22:33,880 A call to the Minnesota Health Department leaves Jeff's family stunned. 322 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,240 They said, I'm sorry you have to hear it this way, but that's your mother 323 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:38,240 they're reporting on. 324 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,100 Cancer couldn't claim her, but peanut butter did. 325 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:50,240 In Portland, Oregon, on January 3, 2009, three -year -old Jacob Hurley's parents 326 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:51,860 think he might have the flu. 327 00:22:52,360 --> 00:22:56,160 He's listless, throwing up, feverish, and miserable. 328 00:22:57,550 --> 00:23:02,570 When one of your children is sick, you're scared for them, and you feel a 329 00:23:02,570 --> 00:23:03,570 bit helpless. 330 00:23:04,070 --> 00:23:06,650 There's blood in his diarrhea. 331 00:23:07,190 --> 00:23:12,810 So we go to the pediatrician, but the whole time, all it is is just treat it 332 00:23:12,810 --> 00:23:18,410 like the flu. If there's anything that he likes and can keep down, go ahead and 333 00:23:18,410 --> 00:23:23,670 feed it to him. In Jacob's case, that ultimate comfort food isn't ice cream or 334 00:23:23,670 --> 00:23:26,330 popsicles. It's peanut butter crackers. 335 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:33,500 Then we get a phone call from the doctor's office saying that he tested 336 00:23:33,500 --> 00:23:35,020 for salmonella poisoning. 337 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:40,960 So the doctor just said, keep doing what you're doing, and you can feed him 338 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:42,240 whatever he likes. 339 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,860 Jacob's parents have no reason to think the crackers are poisoning their little 340 00:23:46,860 --> 00:23:49,360 boy, so he continues to eat them. 341 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:53,400 He was sick for a full week, pushing 10 days. 342 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:55,620 The doctor didn't know what the source was. 343 00:23:56,460 --> 00:23:57,860 Nobody knew what the source was. 344 00:23:58,100 --> 00:24:03,180 In January 2009, local health authorities and the Centers for Disease 345 00:24:03,180 --> 00:24:09,020 used DNA testing to positively identify the culprit, PCA peanuts. 346 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:16,260 The fact that the DNA was so unique and 100 347 00:24:16,260 --> 00:24:22,980 % match between the peanut butter cracker sample, unadulterated, that we 348 00:24:22,980 --> 00:24:23,980 from our house. 349 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:29,000 had an exact match to the DNA salmonella in Jake's stool. 350 00:24:29,540 --> 00:24:33,120 For the federal government, that was the smoking gun. 351 00:24:34,060 --> 00:24:40,240 After two weeks, Jacob Hurley fully recovers. But the experience forever 352 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:41,700 his parents' perspective. 353 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,960 You start to get an inkling that this is just the tip of the iceberg. 354 00:24:46,260 --> 00:24:51,380 And then you realize that, how lucky we were. 355 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:57,320 PCA peanuts will claim the lives of nine victims in five states. 356 00:24:58,860 --> 00:25:04,640 For U .S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken of Minnesota, the outbreak hits 357 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:06,520 especially close to home. 358 00:25:07,580 --> 00:25:12,120 Three of the nine people that died because of the contaminated peanut 359 00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:17,980 were in my state. In the case of Shirley Allmer, the grandma, 72 -year -old 360 00:25:17,980 --> 00:25:22,120 grandma who died, she was surviving cancer and had no warning. 361 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:29,300 We just didn't have in place the mechanisms for tracing back to where 362 00:25:29,300 --> 00:25:30,360 this came from. 363 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:36,940 That's what was so tragic about Jeff's mom, which is that she had some peanut 364 00:25:36,940 --> 00:25:39,800 butter from a jar that had been on the shelves for months. 365 00:25:41,540 --> 00:25:43,200 When American Greed returns, 366 00:25:44,340 --> 00:25:48,920 Stuart Parnell comes face to face with his victims and the congressional 367 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:53,110 firestorm. So the food poisoning of people, is that just the cost of doing 368 00:25:53,110 --> 00:25:54,130 business for your company? 369 00:26:06,370 --> 00:26:12,590 By the time the CDC identifies Peanut Corporation of America as the source of 370 00:26:12,590 --> 00:26:17,610 the salmonella outbreak, its products have already been distributed, sold, and 371 00:26:17,610 --> 00:26:19,010 sometimes eaten. 372 00:26:19,610 --> 00:26:22,050 Everything is on such a lag, such a delay. 373 00:26:22,850 --> 00:26:25,610 So you just never knew where it was going to end at that point. 374 00:26:27,250 --> 00:26:31,590 Retailers scramble to pull anything with possible PCA products off their 375 00:26:31,590 --> 00:26:32,590 shelves. 376 00:26:32,830 --> 00:26:38,590 And with the modern food supply chain so interconnected, the list grows longer 377 00:26:38,590 --> 00:26:39,590 every day. 378 00:26:40,170 --> 00:26:45,670 When you start seeing the news reports of things that you never even thought 379 00:26:45,710 --> 00:26:48,670 like dog food that had peanut butter in them, this affected. 380 00:26:49,130 --> 00:26:54,370 Everybody. One -time PCA employee Kenneth Kendrick watches in horror. 381 00:26:54,630 --> 00:26:59,510 So far, officials don't even know about PCA's Plainview facility. 382 00:27:00,250 --> 00:27:04,210 Texas is still operating full tilt, and there was even a shelter in Virginia 383 00:27:04,210 --> 00:27:05,590 still operating full tilt. 384 00:27:05,830 --> 00:27:12,830 I'm sending emails, getting generic responses, and I'm starting to get kind 385 00:27:12,830 --> 00:27:16,630 of very frustrated at this point. Hey, is nobody still looking at Texas? What 386 00:27:16,630 --> 00:27:17,630 going on here? 387 00:27:18,580 --> 00:27:21,260 Kendrick finally gets the attention of the FDA. 388 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:26,520 He knows all the dirty little secrets and draws maps for the investigators. 389 00:27:27,220 --> 00:27:31,100 I need you to take ten steps. Take a left, open this door, and go upstairs. 390 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,220 If you go upstairs, you're going to see a false ceiling. You're going to find 391 00:27:34,220 --> 00:27:34,999 dead rats. 392 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:40,580 Civil attorney Ron Simon tours the Georgia plant and shares his findings 393 00:27:40,580 --> 00:27:45,280 reporters. We found evidence of roaches, rats, mice. 394 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,840 Beetle, we even found in one instance, broken wire in the peanut paste. 395 00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:54,060 Meanwhile, during a 2009 interview with the Virginia TV station, 396 00:27:54,800 --> 00:28:01,380 Stuart Parnell's sister, Beth Falwell, insists that PCA plants are just fine 397 00:28:01,380 --> 00:28:05,640 and says Parnell's critics simply don't have a head for business. 398 00:28:06,260 --> 00:28:10,600 They're throwing slanders at him. They're saying he's done these things. 399 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:15,060 people would stop and think, why would we have some filthy building? 400 00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:16,940 doing work for Kellogg. 401 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:22,860 People that have never been in business don't know. They know nothing about what 402 00:28:22,860 --> 00:28:23,860 it takes to run a business. 403 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:30,220 Stuart Parnell is about to have the worst month of his life so far. 404 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:37,940 On Monday, February 9, 2009, the FBI raids PCA's Lynchburg, Virginia 405 00:28:37,940 --> 00:28:41,440 headquarters, located in Stuart Parnell's garage. 406 00:28:42,540 --> 00:28:45,120 They also raid the Blakely, Georgia plant. 407 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:52,420 Two days later, Parnell and PCA take the blame at a congressional hearing on the 408 00:28:52,420 --> 00:28:58,120 outbreak. Lives were lost and people were sickened because they took a 409 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:01,600 and I believe knowingly, shipping product that was contaminated. 410 00:29:02,380 --> 00:29:06,320 The hearing reveals bombshell after bombshell. 411 00:29:07,420 --> 00:29:09,760 Parnell's emails are damning. 412 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:17,860 And I'm looking at him, having after seeing those emails, thinking, that's 413 00:29:17,860 --> 00:29:18,860 devil right there. 414 00:29:19,100 --> 00:29:20,640 That's the epitome of greed. 415 00:29:21,780 --> 00:29:24,760 His picture should be in the dictionary next to the word greed. 416 00:29:25,980 --> 00:29:27,920 Peter Hurley testifies. 417 00:29:28,540 --> 00:29:32,320 People have died due to PCA's willful negligence. 418 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:37,140 And while he doesn't speak, just seeing the face of three -year -old survivor 419 00:29:37,140 --> 00:29:38,140 Jacob Hurley. 420 00:29:38,650 --> 00:29:41,010 drives home what's really at stake. 421 00:29:42,130 --> 00:29:47,350 Oregon House Representative Greg Walden knows all about Jacob, and he's 422 00:29:47,350 --> 00:29:52,870 outraged. One of the things I'm going to do today is ask Mr. Parnell from Peanut 423 00:29:52,870 --> 00:29:57,090 Corporation of America if he'd like to open this and sample some of the 424 00:29:57,090 --> 00:30:00,630 that he didn't think were a problem in sending out for the rest of us to eat. 425 00:30:01,150 --> 00:30:04,130 Parnell pleads the fifth five times. 426 00:30:05,330 --> 00:30:08,930 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, on the advice of my counsel, 427 00:30:08,930 --> 00:30:14,830 respectfully decline to answer your question based on the protection 428 00:30:14,830 --> 00:30:15,910 under the United States Constitution. 429 00:30:16,730 --> 00:30:20,210 He was going to hide behind the Fifth Amendment, which he had a constitutional 430 00:30:20,210 --> 00:30:22,230 right to do, and I knew that. 431 00:30:22,430 --> 00:30:27,590 But to me, it was the question of the moment. It was, you didn't seem to think 432 00:30:27,590 --> 00:30:32,810 it was a problem to cut it loose because you were worried about your money. 433 00:30:33,290 --> 00:30:36,290 and let people see how it plays in the marketplace. 434 00:30:36,730 --> 00:30:40,450 And it didn't play well. It killed, it sickened, it robbed people of their 435 00:30:40,450 --> 00:30:42,510 futures and their family members, and it was wrong. 436 00:30:43,090 --> 00:30:48,470 Four days after the public excoriation, on February 13, 2009, 437 00:30:49,010 --> 00:30:51,450 PCA files for bankruptcy. 438 00:30:52,490 --> 00:30:59,350 They were obviously facing these illness claims, but also all the recall cost 439 00:30:59,350 --> 00:31:02,090 claims. PCA didn't have recall insurance. 440 00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:04,300 There was nothing there. 441 00:31:04,500 --> 00:31:05,500 So they just went. 442 00:31:05,740 --> 00:31:08,580 The recall hits food suppliers hard. 443 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:12,680 An estimated $200 million in short -term losses. 444 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:15,640 The human toll hits harder. 445 00:31:16,340 --> 00:31:21,160 There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about my mom and I don't 446 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:22,160 about the circumstances. 447 00:31:22,460 --> 00:31:25,220 My mom died and she shouldn't have died. 448 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:27,720 Could have been prevented. 449 00:31:28,380 --> 00:31:31,720 By April 2009, the outbreak is over. 450 00:31:32,350 --> 00:31:39,130 While the CDC's official toll lists 714 people in 46 states sickened, 451 00:31:39,130 --> 00:31:43,850 they estimate dozens more victims for every one illness reported. 452 00:31:44,430 --> 00:31:48,030 But the true toll could be as high as 20 ,000. 453 00:31:48,430 --> 00:31:50,110 At least nine are dead. 454 00:31:51,150 --> 00:31:54,170 I couldn't sleep at night knowing I let more people die. 455 00:31:54,770 --> 00:31:59,570 And I sometimes still cry at night for the nine who did, that I wasn't able to 456 00:31:59,570 --> 00:32:01,230 stop that back when I worked there. 457 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:06,000 and replay in my head a million different ways. 458 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,080 Who else could I have tried to contact? 459 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:16,080 Darren Detweiler knows what that loss feels like. In 1993, his 16 -month -old 460 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:21,800 son Riley was the last to die from an E. coli outbreak that started with Jack in 461 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:22,960 the Box hamburgers. 462 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:27,480 There were no state or federal charges brought against Jack in the Box at the 463 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:30,180 time, but they admitted that they broke the law. 464 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:37,020 And you've got to really start to wonder, what is the prosecutorial 465 00:32:37,020 --> 00:32:42,380 when it comes to the food industry? How can Stuart Parnell, who technically was 466 00:32:42,380 --> 00:32:48,560 responsible for more deaths than Charles Manson, not be held responsible, not be 467 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:51,720 tried in a federal court and not serve jail time? 468 00:32:53,660 --> 00:32:58,400 Next, will CEO Stuart Parnell get a legal slap on the wrist? 469 00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:02,140 or serve real time for his poisoned peanuts. 470 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:15,380 PCA's salmonella -tainted products cause the largest food recall in U .S. 471 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:16,400 history. 472 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,420 There's a breathtaking financial fallout. 473 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:24,440 The loss estimates grow to a whopping $1 billion. 474 00:33:26,990 --> 00:33:32,890 In the aftermath, PCA CEO Stuart Parnell is at the center of a firestorm of 475 00:33:32,890 --> 00:33:33,890 civil cases. 476 00:33:34,230 --> 00:33:38,070 But he isn't facing criminal charges yet. 477 00:33:39,190 --> 00:33:43,170 In 2009, they announced there was a criminal investigation. 478 00:33:43,430 --> 00:33:48,310 And for years, literally, that's all we knew. 479 00:33:49,030 --> 00:33:53,070 Minnesota Senator Al Franken champions food safety reform. 480 00:33:53,710 --> 00:33:57,330 and advocates for PCA victims like Jeff Ulmer. 481 00:33:57,530 --> 00:33:59,510 These guys knew what was going on. 482 00:34:00,090 --> 00:34:06,770 Due to their willful and knowing actions, they killed nine people. 483 00:34:07,290 --> 00:34:14,290 Jeff deserves a lot of credit for not letting go. He was crucial to 484 00:34:14,290 --> 00:34:17,090 the case in working with the prosecutors. 485 00:34:19,020 --> 00:34:23,300 Former U .S. Attorney Michael Moore must maintain a balancing act. 486 00:34:24,179 --> 00:34:27,520 On one hand, this case is about the victims. 487 00:34:28,820 --> 00:34:30,920 You had folks who lost parents. 488 00:34:31,199 --> 00:34:34,540 You had people who lost family members they loved. 489 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:39,040 You had folks who had children that were sickened because of the outbreak that 490 00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:40,800 we thought about on a daily basis. 491 00:34:41,639 --> 00:34:46,560 On the other hand, the prosecution requires cold, hard facts. 492 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:52,340 The judge is not going to let you talk about your mother suffering and dying 493 00:34:52,340 --> 00:34:56,940 because of tainted peanut product in a case that deals with whether or not 494 00:34:56,940 --> 00:34:59,340 somebody committed fraud by mail or wire. 495 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:04,640 Meanwhile, the PCA outbreak goads Congress into action. 496 00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:12,980 On January 4, 2011, President Barack Obama signs the Food Safety 497 00:35:12,980 --> 00:35:14,580 Act into law. 498 00:35:15,340 --> 00:35:21,240 It's predicated on best practices that can be scientifically proven and that we 499 00:35:21,240 --> 00:35:24,640 step up the inspections and have better flow and transparency and more 500 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:28,680 information available to the inspectors because all of those things played a 501 00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:30,740 role in what went wrong with PCA. 502 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:35,400 It's the most sweeping set of food reforms in seven decades. 503 00:35:37,310 --> 00:35:40,590 You've gotten a lot bigger since the last time I saw you. How you been? 504 00:35:40,850 --> 00:35:45,110 Good. Good to see you. You hungry? I'm still happy. 505 00:35:49,170 --> 00:35:55,710 Congressman Greg Walden keeps PCA's crime -taped peanut products in his 506 00:35:55,710 --> 00:35:56,850 as a reminder. 507 00:35:57,590 --> 00:36:01,350 You know, you think about somebody willing to take that risk. One people's 508 00:36:01,350 --> 00:36:02,350 are literally on the ballot. 509 00:36:02,710 --> 00:36:06,350 It's truly a thick mind that's doing it. It's our job. 510 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:10,320 is to be that voice for people who feel they have no voice. 511 00:36:10,540 --> 00:36:14,640 This was clearly a bipartisan piece of work that we did, and we need to. 512 00:36:15,180 --> 00:36:21,320 When American Greed returns, changing the law is a good start, but Parnell's 513 00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:25,560 victims want to make sure he sees the inside of a jail cell. 514 00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:33,100 This was a message, a clear message, that you can't just pay a fine and 515 00:36:33,100 --> 00:36:34,100 walk away. 516 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:51,600 Four years after the PCA Salmonella outbreak, Prosecutor Michael Moore and 517 00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:55,700 team meticulously combed through three million pieces of evidence. 518 00:36:56,340 --> 00:37:00,280 These cases are complex. They take a lot of time. They take a lot of resources. 519 00:37:00,700 --> 00:37:04,040 At the same time, the cases are such a magnitude that you want to make sure 520 00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:05,160 it gets the attention it deserves. 521 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:09,380 Moore must tie it all back to one big theme. 522 00:37:10,220 --> 00:37:11,620 People have lost their lives. 523 00:37:12,140 --> 00:37:15,620 And, you know, children have suffered a great deal through illness. And it just 524 00:37:15,620 --> 00:37:19,700 reminds you that the case is not just about Mr. Parnell, but this case is 525 00:37:19,700 --> 00:37:20,700 people. 526 00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:27,680 In February 2013, a grand jury issues a 76 -count indictment against 527 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:32,160 Stuart Parnell, Michael Parnell, and three of their plant managers. 528 00:37:33,660 --> 00:37:36,320 The charges don't include murder. 529 00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:39,780 People understand lying, cheating, and stealing. 530 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:42,240 And that's what this case ultimately was about. 531 00:37:42,460 --> 00:37:45,540 And we knew we could get justice for the victims in the same way, even though we 532 00:37:45,540 --> 00:37:52,080 were calling the case a wire fraud and mail fraud case, conspiracy case, as 533 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:55,900 opposed to moving forward on some type of manslaughter. But there's just no 534 00:37:55,900 --> 00:37:58,100 reason to put family members through that. 535 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:03,280 Darren Detweiler writes academic articles about the case and lands an 536 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:04,600 with Stuart Parnell. 537 00:38:05,190 --> 00:38:10,010 And he literally ends the conversation with, you know, we should get together 538 00:38:10,010 --> 00:38:14,190 and maybe have a burger and a beer or something after this all blows over. 539 00:38:14,990 --> 00:38:17,110 But it's not going to blow over. 540 00:38:18,130 --> 00:38:24,450 In the summer of 2014, Parnell's attorneys claim he had no idea what his 541 00:38:24,450 --> 00:38:30,510 employees were up to and that attention deficit disorder causes him to make 542 00:38:30,510 --> 00:38:31,510 terrible decisions. 543 00:38:32,710 --> 00:38:34,690 The emails told a totally different story. 544 00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:36,900 He knew exactly what was going on. 545 00:38:37,140 --> 00:38:40,720 And what happened in that plant was happening at his control and his 546 00:38:40,980 --> 00:38:46,760 On September 19, 2014, the verdict comes down for Stuart Parnell. 547 00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:52,420 Guilty on 71 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and misbranded food. 548 00:38:53,140 --> 00:38:58,320 Jeff Allmer, the Hurleys, and other victims are all back in Albany, Georgia 549 00:38:58,320 --> 00:38:59,940 the sentencing a year later. 550 00:39:00,700 --> 00:39:03,260 I sat there in the courtroom that morning. 551 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:09,400 Not knowing what the outcome was going to be. Is it going to be a slap on the 552 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:10,400 hand three months? 553 00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:11,720 Is it going to be life in prison? 554 00:39:12,980 --> 00:39:16,700 One by one, PCA victims share impact statements. 555 00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:20,260 As they leave the stand, they walk past Stewart's family. 556 00:39:20,980 --> 00:39:26,120 And according to Detweiler, they face an appalling parting shot from a Parnell 557 00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:27,120 family member. 558 00:39:27,660 --> 00:39:30,680 You could not miss it. She was flipping them the bird. 559 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:32,700 And the federal marshal... 560 00:39:33,150 --> 00:39:37,630 basically takes a few steps over, reaches over, and grabs this woman and 561 00:39:37,630 --> 00:39:41,330 basically pulls her from her seat and hauls her out towards the back of the 562 00:39:41,330 --> 00:39:46,230 courtroom. And it was Beth Falwell, the sister of Stuart Parnell. 563 00:39:48,350 --> 00:39:51,550 Parnell's underlings cooperate without the drama. 564 00:39:52,290 --> 00:39:57,110 Three former plant managers plead guilty to obstruction of justice and fraud. 565 00:39:57,430 --> 00:40:01,570 They are sentenced to three, five, and six years in prison. 566 00:40:02,410 --> 00:40:05,430 Michael Parnell is sentenced to 20 years. 567 00:40:06,190 --> 00:40:10,730 Stuart Parnell doesn't realize he's about to make history as a defendant in 568 00:40:10,730 --> 00:40:11,870 food poisoning case. 569 00:40:12,590 --> 00:40:16,010 His sentence, 28 years. 570 00:40:17,810 --> 00:40:19,710 This was a landmark case. 571 00:40:19,970 --> 00:40:24,810 You know, you go from three months as the maximum potential jail time to 28 572 00:40:24,810 --> 00:40:29,670 years. When those numbers were read out by the judge that evening, there was a 573 00:40:29,670 --> 00:40:30,670 gasp. 574 00:40:31,540 --> 00:40:36,740 Stuart Parnell could spend the rest of his life behind bars, but he's still 575 00:40:36,740 --> 00:40:37,740 alive. 576 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:42,180 The sentence can't bring Jeff Ormer's mother back. 577 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:48,460 I heard an ad on the radio for Mother's Day, and it came to my mind that I 578 00:40:48,460 --> 00:40:54,260 should send a Mother's Day card, and I'm going to send it to the person that put 579 00:40:54,260 --> 00:40:55,260 her in the ground. 580 00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:57,440 And I simply wrote in there, 581 00:40:58,250 --> 00:41:01,610 I didn't know where to send it this year since my mother's no longer alive, so 582 00:41:01,610 --> 00:41:04,930 I'm sending it to you, the person responsible for where she is today. 583 00:41:05,170 --> 00:41:06,310 And then I signed it. 584 00:41:07,710 --> 00:41:08,890 I know what you did. 585 00:41:09,130 --> 00:41:10,310 You know what you did. 586 00:41:10,750 --> 00:41:12,270 I'm not walking away from this. 587 00:41:12,690 --> 00:41:18,290 While Parnell appeals his case, advocates say the Food Safety 588 00:41:18,290 --> 00:41:23,190 requires more funding to give it the teeth legislators intended. 589 00:41:23,890 --> 00:41:24,890 Red tape. 590 00:41:25,330 --> 00:41:26,330 Mindless regulation. 591 00:41:27,640 --> 00:41:29,960 Hurting our economy, killing jobs. 592 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:37,420 Well, yeah, there's another side to that. And the other side of that is that 593 00:41:37,420 --> 00:41:43,620 it prevents stuff from happening that actually hurts our economy, that 594 00:41:43,620 --> 00:41:44,620 hurts the lives. 595 00:41:45,180 --> 00:41:46,740 We didn't lose Jake. 596 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:54,400 And that made me realize how lucky we are and how I can... 597 00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:57,020 Talk to members of Congress. 598 00:41:58,900 --> 00:42:01,760 I'm happy. I'm healthy. I have a happy and healthy son. 599 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:07,540 From the person that's in prison and the president in the White House, everybody 600 00:42:07,540 --> 00:42:14,380 eats. Every food producer should at least do their part of what they know to 601 00:42:14,380 --> 00:42:21,340 right, to give us good, safe food. And Stuart Parnell didn't do any 602 00:42:21,340 --> 00:42:23,200 of that. I love you, buddy. I love you, too. 603 00:42:24,140 --> 00:42:28,480 Next. When money is no object, the limit of the credit card was the only thing 604 00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:30,780 that stopped them. The object was to get more. 605 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:34,960 It was just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Five rounds from the last 45. 606 00:42:35,260 --> 00:42:36,260 Enter the dark side. 607 00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:38,600 American Greed next on CNBC.