Three executives of a La Mesa-based company were sentenced Thursday for charges relating to code violations discovered at a work site where an employee died in a tree trimming accident in 2013.
David Scott Wolfe, Jonathan D. Cox and John Murphy of Three Frogs Inc. were given 14 days of public work service and ordered to pay fines. Last month, they pleaded guilty to unemployment tax evasion and failure to have workers’ compensation insurance. Their company buys and renovates homes for resale.
The code violations were discovered by Division of Occupational Safety and Health, better known as Cal/OSHA, after an investigation was launched into the accidental death of Three Frogs Inc. employee Joshua Pudsey, 42.
Pudsey, of Lakeside, was killed on the job while trimming trees on Nov. 12, 2013. He was using an aerial lift and large cherry picker outside the La Mesa home of his employer when a large branch from a 60-foot eucalyptus tree fell on him, crushing his head.
The fact that Pudsey's employers avoided jail time infuriated his mother, Debbi Anderson.
“Their lack of intelligence, their lack of common sense, their arrogance, their ignorance and their greed cost me my son,” said Debbi Anderson, who was in court during the sentencing.
In court, attorneys for the three defendants said they were apologetic and sincerely sorry for what happened. They have taken enormous steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again, according to the lawyers.
Investigators determined Pudsey did not have enough training or experience to be cutting down that large tree. His girlfriend was newly pregnant at the time of Pudsey’s death with his child, Jackson, who was born seven months after the fatal accident.
In September 2014, Wolfe, Cox and Murphy were ordered to stand trial on the aforementioned charges, but at their preliminary hearing, a judge said there was not enough evidence to also charge the trio with one count of violating safety standards related to Pudsey’s tree trimming death.
Because Three Frogs Inc. failed to have workers' compensation insurance, Pudsey’s son did not receive the company payout he would’ve normally been entitled to after his father’s death.
“I hope every morning when they look in the mirror, they see his broken body and my grandson's beautiful face,” said Anderson.
At their sentencing, the executives were ordered to pay $290,000 to a trust fund set up for the dead tree trimmer's now 9-month-old son. They were also given a $2,500 fine and ordered to make a $1,000 donation to a charity, in addition to the community service.
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Anderson has spoken to NBC 7 in the past about her son’s tragic death and how difficult it was for the family to put Pudsey on Jackson’s birth certificate after a county employee told the family the father needed to be there to sign a declaration of paternity.
