Overview
- Jeffrey Mosteller was sentenced on Monday to 19 months to 15 years in prison after he pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter for the Jan. 31, 2025 hyperbaric chamber explosion at the Oxford Center.
- Prosecutors say investigators found multiple safety failures at the facility, including a grounding wrist strap left unused in a junk drawer, altered chamber cycle counts, a blanket taken directly from a running dryer, and polyester bedding that can ignite from static.
- Those lapses, prosecutors contend, allowed a static spark to ignite oxygen-rich air in the chamber and cause the fire that killed 5-year-old Thomas Cooper and injured his mother.
- Three other people charged in the case — owner Tamela Peterson, management assistant Gary Marken, and chamber operator Aleta Moffitt — have not reached plea deals and their court proceedings are ongoing.
- The case has prompted a civil lawsuit and renewed calls for enforcement of national fire and hyperbaric safety standards because grounding straps and strict material rules exist to prevent static sparks in oxygen environments.