Lake Elsinore Man Pleads No Contest In Deadly Workplace Accident

LAKE ELSINORE, CA — A Lake Elsinore supervisor has pleaded 'no contest' to charges stemming from a deadly workplace accident in 2014.

Thomas Aaron Blythe, 47, was sentenced to community service and probation, along with Timothy Scott Gordon, 53, of Lake Elsinore, and their employer, Five Star Plastering Inc. All entered no contest pleas to misdemeanor charges of willful violation causing death and injury, reduced from a felony charge.

Co-defendant John Lawrence Alberts, 58, of Apple Valley, pleaded no contest Sept. 8 and was ordered to perform 240 hours of community service.

Blythe and Gordon were ordered to perform 100 hours of community service. The company was placed on 42 months of probation.

The case stemmed from a July 17, 2014, accident that killed 23-year- old Daniel Pohl and injured another 23-year-old worker.

The victims were erecting a scaffolding on a football field at Mission Viejo High School that would display a banner supporting the school's football team. During the construction "they were electrocuted by nearby power lines," the Orange County District Attorney's office said.

The power line were roughly two-feet above the scaffolding, according to reports. Pohl was killed instantly, and the other worker "sustained serious and permanent injury," OCDA said.

Blythe ordered the job, Gordon was accused of failing to inspect the site and Alberts was the foreman who "improperly" checked the clearance between the scaffolding and the power lines, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Five Star Plastering, Inc. was fined $164,000 in the incident by CalOSHA, for violating provisions to prevent accidents.

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