Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services’ president, Stephen Michael Braithwaite, and vice president, Adam Thomas Braithwaite, are both named in the 22-count indictment. The charges include conspiracy, violating worker safety standards resulting in worker deaths, violating federal law that governs hazardous waste management and submitting false documents to a federal agency.

The company and owners failed to implement worker safety standards and then tried to cover that up during an inspection by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, prosecutors said.

“Protecting the health and safety of American workers at hazardous job sites is of paramount importance,” Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Wood said in a written statement. “The defendants in this case failed to live up to that responsibility, even falsifying documents to evade worker safety requirements. Tragically, employees at the defendants’ facility lost their lives while working in these unsafe conditions.”

No attorneys are listed for the company or its owners in online federal court documents. A person who answered the phone Thursday at Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services referred questions to Stephen Braithwaite, who did not immediately return a message left for him.

Two of the company’s workers, 40-year-old Dallas Foulk and 44-year-old Adrian LaPour, were killed in the April 14, 2015, explosion. A third employee was hurt.

Later that year, OSHA cited the company for 33 violations in the case, saying it blatantly ignored warning signs that there was a serious risk of explosion in the moments before the workers were killed.

The indictment alleges that after a 2013 inspection, Stephen Braithwaite agreed to have the company test railcars for benzene, a flammable liquid widely used to make everything from plastics to detergent. But after OSHA returned in March 2015 to conduct a follow-up inspection, prosecutors say, inspectors were turned away by Steve Braithwaite.

The indictment says the Braithwaites then created documents they submitted to OSHA falsifying that the company had purchased equipment to test the contents of railcars for benzene and had taken other required safety precautions.

The indictment says that despite warnings in 2013 and 2014, the company also failed to test waste to see if it was hazardous and instead simply sent all its waste to a landfill not permitted to receive hazardous waste.

The Jackson County, Kansas, Sheriff’s Office says Maria Perez-Marquez is awaiting extradition to Kansas. She was arrested Thursday in Omaha, Nebraska, on an involuntary manslaughter warrant in the November 2017 deaths of 42-year-old Carmen Ukele, 11-year-old Marlee Ukele and 62-year-old Stephen Ukele.

Coach Garrett Michael says brothers Tanner and Carson Ukele were pulled off the Sabetha High School football team bus after a celebratory dinner. A trooper later told them their father had been hurt and the others had died. Perez-Marquez was passing another vehicle before the crash.

Residents near Legge Lake tell the Omaha World-Herald that Union Pacific Railroad trains have frequently blocked two Dodge County roads and limited access to their homes over the years. But the problem has recently escalated, with trains blocking both roads for hours at a time several times a week.

“We wonder what would happen if there were an emergency,” resident Suzy Crabb said. “One of our neighbors is elderly with a heart condition, and he’s very concerned.”

A crew is working to replace concrete railroad ties in the area near North Bend, according to Union Pacific spokeswoman Kristen South. Weather issues also contribute to congestion, she said.

“We are doing everything possible to prevent extended blockages and leave at least one access point available to Legge Lake residents,” South said.

She encouraged residents to call the railroad’s Response Management Communications Center if there’s an emergency.

“Emergency protocols exist, and a train can be broken, if necessary,” South said.

Nebraska Public Service Commission regulations require stopped trains to move within 10 minutes after a vehicle or pedestrian comes to a crossing. If a train can’t be moved, crews are supposed to separate enough train cars to open access to the crossing.

Dodge County Attorney Oliver Glass said he was informed of the issue Thursday and has contacted the local sheriff’s office.

“State law appears to show we could cite the railroad for a misdemeanor offense punishable by a $500 fine, but I am hoping that the situation can be resolved through open communication with the residents and the railroad,” he said.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 28-year-old former Omaha gymnastics coach accused of secretly recording females undressing at an Omaha gym has been sentenced to nine years in prison.

James Fogg was sentenced Thursday in Douglas County District Court. He pleaded no contest earlier this year to attempted visual depiction of sexually explicit content and unlawful intrusion by electronic recording.

Police testified that Fogg last year recorded a 14-year-old girl he had coached and a 21-year-old woman who worked for him in an Omaha gym.

Police say Fogg’s face was caught on the video setting up the hidden camera before the girl and woman were secretly recorded.

Fogg had left the Omaha gym by the time the charges were brought. He was arrested last year in Emporia, Kansas, where he’d moved for another coaching job.