Tuna company’s ex-safety manager guilty in worker oven death

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former safety manager at a Bumble Bee Foods seafood plant has pleaded guilty in the death of a worker who was cooked with tons of tuna.

Saul Florez was sentenced to probation and fined $5,000 after pleading guilty Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court on a charge of violating a workplace safety rule that caused a death.

Jose Melena died three years ago after cooking for two hours in an oven that reached 270 degrees at the company’s Santa Fe Springs plant.

Melena was trapped after a co-worker mistakenly believed he was in the bathroom and filled a pressure cooker with 12,000 pounds of canned tuna.

Plea deals with Bumble Bee and its operations director were expected to be announced later in the day.