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Ex-safety manager given 19 months’ prison over five-year-old’s hyperbaric chamber fire death
theguardian.com • • nation
Key Points:
- Jeffrey Mosteller, a former safety manager at the Oxford Center in Michigan, was sentenced to one year and seven months in prison after pleading no contest to involuntary manslaughter in the death of five-year-old Thomas Cooper in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber explosion.
- The fatal incident occurred in January 2025 when a spark, caused by static electricity from a mattress sheet being pulled off, ignited a fire inside the oxygen-rich chamber, quickly killing Cooper during his treatment for ADHD and sleep apnea.
- Mosteller is one of four former Oxford Center employees charged in connection with the death; others include the facility's founder Tamela Peterson and manager Gary Marken, both charged with second-degree murder, and operator Aleta Moffitt, charged with involuntary manslaughter.
- Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is FDA-approved for certain conditions but has faced controversy regarding safety, especially as its use expands beyond approved disorders, with some political figures endorsing it while others remain skeptical.
