A food processing plant in Vernon has pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts and will pay more than $6 million after it was criminally charged for a hazardous nitrogen gas leak in 2020 that killed two workers.

The deal with California Ranch Foods, a subsidiary of Vernon-based Golden West Food Group, was reached by prosecutors with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office last month and relies on findings from an investigation by California’s workplace safety agency.

The case stems from a Dec. 1, 2020 incident in which 56-year-old Baldemar Gonsales of Los Angeles and 54-year-old Maria Osyguss of Hemet were found lying unconscious at the company’s facility in Vernon after a malfunction caused a leak of liquid nitrogen in one of the facility’s chill rooms — specialized refrigerated

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