A Cleveland-area business owner pleaded guilty this week to federal charges connected to the deaths of two workers inside a chemical tanker at a trucking terminal, admitting he falsified safety records after one employee collapsed from oxygen deprivation and a coworker died trying to save her. Russell Stewart, who owns Great Lakes Tanks and Vessels, entered his plea in U.S. District Court in Akron to two counts of willful OSHA violation causing death and one count of obstruction of an agency proceeding.
The charges stem from the February 20, 2020 deaths of Ashlie Friedman, a 30-year-old Great Lakes Tanks and Vessels employee from Elyria, and Allen Linder, a 60-year-old Kenan Advantage Group employee from Milan. According to Cleveland.com, Friedman collapsed inside a chemical tanker trailer at the Kenan Advantage facility on Union Avenue near East 80th Street, and Linder died trying to rescue her. Federal prosecutors said Stewart failed to ensure employees used oxygen testing and emergency equipment when cleaning tankers, and court documents state that he gave OSHA inspectors falsified records about the company's permits, training and safety policies.
Emergency crews from the Cleveland Division of Fire used a cable hoist and self-contained breathing apparatus to pull both unresponsive victims through the top hatch of the trailer, according to ISHN. Both were transported to University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, where they died from suffocation, and fire crews declared the facility a hazardous materials incident. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission's account adds that Friedman's mother, who also worked for Great Lakes Tanks and Vessels, was positioned atop the tanker and witnessed her daughter collapse before shouting for help to nearby workers.
A Posthumous Medal for a Fatal Rescue
In September 2021, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission posthumously awarded Linder the Carnegie Medal for Heroism after he entered the oxygen-deficient trailer without respiratory gear in an attempt to save Friedman. The following January, Huron County Commissioner Terry Boose presented the medal to Linder's son during a public county meeting honoring his father's rescue effort, according to the Norwalk Reflector. Kenan Advantage Group operates as a North American liquid bulk transportation and logistics firm handling petroleum and chemicals, while Great Lakes Tanks and Vessels had been hired as an independent contractor to clean the tanker's interior.
An OSHA inspection following the deaths recommended that Great Lakes Tanks and Vessels pay a $1.5 million fine for 11 willful and six serious violations. Under federal regulation 29 C.F.R. § 1910.146, employers managing permit-required confined spaces must test atmospheric oxygen, establish written entry permits, provide emergency rescue gear, and prevent unauthorized personnel from attempting rescues on their own, standards that chemical tanker interiors fall under because of the toxic vapors they can contain.
Civil Settlements and a Prior Federal Conviction
The estates of Friedman and Linder sued Great Lakes Tanks and Vessels and Kenan Advantage over the deaths. Linder's estate settled for $1.2 million total, while Friedman's estate settled for $1.7 million total. Marcus Sidoti, an attorney involved in the case, said, “We hope today's disposition brings some solace to the victims' families,” and added, “On behalf of Mr. Stewart, our deepest condolences go out to the families effected by this tragedy.”
This was not Stewart's first brush with federal environmental prosecution. He was sentenced in Cleveland federal court in June 2017 to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay $876,228 in restitution after pleading guilty to Clean Air Act violations tied to illegal asbestos demolition and hazardous waste disposal at a company called Chemstruction, before he went on to own Great Lakes Tanks and Vessels.
Why the Case Took Nearly Five Years to Charge
Federal prosecutors formally indicted Stewart in January 2025, nearly five years after the fatal incident, a gap that reflects how rarely workplace deaths result in federal criminal charges at all. Research from the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations found that of more than 430,000 workplace fatalities recorded in the United States since OSHA's creation in 1970, only about 130 cases have ever been referred for federal criminal prosecution under 29 U.S.C. § 666(e), which requires proving intentional disregard or plain indifference to safety regulations.
That statute also explains why obstruction charges were central to the case: a federal criminal conviction for a willful OSHA violation causing death is classified as a Class B misdemeanor, carrying a statutory maximum of six months in prison and a $10,000 fine per count for a first offense. Stewart's plea agreement calls for a sentencing range from probation up to 30 months in prison, a term that leans on the separate obstruction charge, which carries a higher maximum penalty under Title 18 than the OSHA misdemeanor counts alone. U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi has set Stewart's sentencing for November 19.
