SAFETY MANAGER LEARNS FATE AFTER TRAGIC CHAMBER BLAST..! – A safety manager has learned their legal fate following the devastating hyperbaric chamber explosion that claimed the l!fe of a 5-year-old boy.
The former safety manager of a medical center where a hyperbaric chamber exploded and killed a five-year-old boy last year is facing up to 15 years in prison.
The child, Thomas Cooper, was killed in January 2025 while undergoing Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy at the Oxford Center in Troy, Michigan, 20 miles north of Detroit.
The hyperbaric chamber burst into flames while the little boy lay inside. His mother, Annie Cooper, threw herself toward the blaze and attempted to save her son. She was unsuccessful and suffered severe burns on her arms.
In March 2025, four people were arrested for the five-year-old’s death, including the Oxford Center’s founder and chief executive, Tamela Peterson, 58; the operator of the chamber when it exploded, Aleta Moffitt, 60; facility manager Gary Marken, 65; and safety manager Gary Mosteller, 64.
Mosteller pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday. He had originally also been charged with second-degree murder and had pleaded not guilty, but prosecutors dropped the murder charge when he altered his plea.
The ex-safety manager is now facing 19 months to 15 years in prison. The exact amount of time he will be incarcerated will be determined at his sentencing hearing on August 13.
‘A young child lost his life in a completely preventable tragedy because this defendant allowed an outdated device to operate in defiance of safety standards,’ said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in a statement.
‘While no outcome can reverse this loss, it is my hope that this conviction provides a sense of justice to Thomas’s family,’ she added.
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Thomas Cooper, 5, was killed in January 2025 while undergoing Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy at the Oxford Center in Troy, Michigan, when the hyperbaric chamber exploded
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The former safety manager at the Oxford Center, Gary Mosteller, 64 (pictured, right), pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday
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Hyperbaric chambers provide pure oxygen under a pressurized environment, which can treat certain Hyperbaric chambers are sealed vessels that provide pure oxygen in an enclosed space that is pressurized up to three times normal atmospheric pressure.
The medical devices are intended to allow the body to absorb much more oxygen than by breathing regular air at normal pressure, which can promote tissue healing, help fight infections and treat conditions such as carbon monoxide poisoning.
But a pure oxygen environment can be extremely dangerous if proper precautions are not taken.
‘A hyperbaric chamber contains 100 percent oxygen, which is up to five times the amount of oxygen in a normal room,’ Troy Fire Department Lt Keith Young said last year.
‘The presence of such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurized environment can make it extremely combustible,’ he added.
It is understood that the fire that killed Thomas was caused by a static spark inside the hyperbaric chamber, which could have been prevented if the little boy had been connected to a grounding strap, an expert testified at a December 2025 hearing.
But the grounding strap that Thomas should have been fitted with was found inside a ‘junk drawer’ at the Oxford Center, prosecutors revealed at a previous hearing.
The use of a grounding strap during Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is standard procedure outlined in strict safety protocols published by the National Fire Protection Association and Sechrist, the manufacturer of the hyperbaric chamber.
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The pure-oxygen environment in hyperbaric chambers can be dangerous if proper safety precautions are not taken. The burnt-out remains of the chamber Thomas was in are pictured
The charred chamber is pictured being presented at a press conference. It is understood the fire was caused by a spark because Thomas was not fitted with a grounding strap
Prosecutors said that Mosteller ignored those safety protocols, which significantly contributed to Thomas being killed.
The Cooper family’s attorney has said that the boy received multiple Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy sessions for sleep apnea and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
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But those conditions aren’t among those approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for marketing of the treatment – a fact reiterated last year by Nessel, who described the boy’s treatment as ‘unsupported by medical science.’
‘Because these treatments were so medically unsound, patient insurance policies would not cover the use of these chambers to treat these conditions,’ the attorney general said. ‘This business was a pure cash-flow, for-profit business.’
The cases of the other three people arrested for Thomas’s death are ongoing. Peterson, the Oxford Center’s founder and chief executive, is facing a second-degree murder charge.
Marken, the facility manager, is also facing second-degree murder as well as involuntary manslaughter charges.
And Moffitt, the operator of the chamber, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and intentionally placing false medical information on a medical records chart.
Peterson has further been accused of interfering with the investigation and criticizing the little boy’s actions while he was on fire.
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The center’s founder and chief executive, Tamela Peterson (pictured), 58, is charged with second-degree murder
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Thomas’s mother described him as ‘the smartest and cutest kid who liked to zoom, zoom, zoom’
The chief executive allegedly shared CCTV photos of the boy from inside the hyperbaric chamber and disturbingly said: ‘If my leg was on fire, I would at least try to hit it and put it out. He just laid there and did nothing,’ according to sources who spoke with FOX2.
On a GoFundMe organized for the Cooper family, Annie described her son as ‘the smartest and cutest kid who liked to zoom, zoom, zoom.’
‘His family loved him very much. He was a smart, intelligent boy and his parents loved him how he was. He was perfect in every way. He was the best, best boy there ever was,’ she wrote.
The Oxford Center said shortly after the explosion that ‘the safety and wellbeing of the children we serve is our highest priority.’
‘Nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of providing this type of therapy. We do not know why or how this happened and will participate in all of the investigations that now need to take place,’ its statement said.
