Business owner pleads not guilty in fatal 2011 fireworks explosion

The owner of the ordnance disposal company that employed five men killed in a fireworks explosion at a Wai­kele storage bunker last year pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court on Thursday morning to charges that he had his employees dismantling fireworks without a permit.

Donaldson Enterprises owner Charles Donaldson pleaded not guilty to one conspiracy charge and 20 counts of having his employees treat hazardous waste without a permit.

Company project manager Carlton Finley pleaded not guilty to the same charges.

Donaldson’s lawyer, Thomas Otake, pleaded not guilty on behalf of the fireworks and explosives disposal company.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi scheduled trial for December.

Otake told Puglisi that Donaldson Enterprises has a contract with the Navy for a job on Guam on which Donaldson and Finley will be working, and the judge said Donaldson and Finley could travel to Guam and communicate with each other for work. They each remain free on $100,000 bail.

Bryan Cabalce, Robert Kevin Freeman, Justin Joseph Kelii, Robert Leahey and Neil Benjamin Sprankle died April 8, 2011, in a fireworks explosion at the company’s rented storage bunker in Wai­kele.