OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – The four employees who were charged in connection to the death of a 5-year-old boy who was killed in a hyperbaric chamber explosion in Oakland County were back in court on Wednesday.
Thomas Cooper was receiving treatment inside a hyperbaric chamber when it exploded at the Oxford Center in Troy on Jan. 31, 2025. The boy was killed and his mother was injured.
Tamela Peterson, 58, of Brighton, was previously charged with second-degree murder. She is being held on a $2 million bond.
Safety manager Jeffrey Mosteller, 64, of Clinton Township, and primary management assistant Gary Marken, 65, of Spring Arbor were also charged with second-degree murder. These three employees were given alternative charges of involuntary manslaughter, which means a jury will get to decide which charge applies to their conduct.
Another employee, Aleta Moffitt, 60, of Rochester Hills, who was allegedly operating the hyperbaric chamber at the time of the explosion, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and falsifying medical records. She has also been released on bond.
The four employees appeared in court virtually for probable cause conferences before Judge Maureen M. McGinnis.
During each of the probable cause conferences on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, it was determined that a second probable cause conference for each of them would be held, delaying the preliminary examination date, which was previously set for March 26.
This is due to the amount of discovery that needs to be reviewed in the case.
The attorneys for Peterson and Mosteller asked the judge to address bond, as both of them have been unable to post it, but the judge said they needed to submit any requests in writing so that Assistant Attorney General Chris Kessel would also have time to review it.
The attorneys for Marken and Moffitt both requested that their home confinements be eased, since they both have been released on bond.
The conditions of their home confinement already include exceptions for medical and legal appointments and employment, but they want to be able to go to the grocery store or their family’s houses.
The attorneys for both said Marken and Moffitt would still wear their GPS tethers, but were requesting a radius they could travel within.
McGinnis heard the request in Moffitt’s case, since a written motion was filed before the hearing, but denied it. She said further information can still be submitted for review.
They are all scheduled to be back in court again for another probable cause conference on April 30.
You can watch the full hearing in the video below:
