SALT LAKE CITY — A pest control company and its employee — who have been implicated in connection with the deaths of two Utah girls — pleaded not guilty Friday to the federal charges that have been leveled against them.
Raymond Wilson, owner of Bugman Pest and Lawn Inc., and Coleman Nocks, the exterminator who was working for the company, appeared in separate hearings Friday after being named in federal indictments charging them both with three counts of unlawful use of a registered pesticide. The charges stem from the Toone tragedy and two other instances where investigators say Fumitoxin pellets were applied around homes in a manner "inconsistent with labeling."

Prosecutors say Nocks, 63, improperly applied Fumitoxin around the home where Rebecca Kay Toone, 4, and her sister, Rachel Ana Toone, 15 months, lived. The girls died within days of the application. Authorities believe the Toone girls might have inhaled phosphine fumes emitted from tablets of Fumitoxin, a rat poison, as the Utah Medical Examiner's Office reported that the girls had elevated levels of phosphorus in their bodies.

Wilson spoke outside of court and said the cause of the girls' deaths was "up for debate." He said the news media has repeatedly reported that Fumitoxin was the cause of death, but he said they fail to acknowledge another incident that may have played a part in the girl's death.

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Source: Deseret News