LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Four people have been charged in the death of a 5-year-old boy from Royal Oak, Michigan, who was killed in a hyperbaric chamber explosion, Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday.
The boy, Thomas Cooper, was “incinerated” inside a pressurized oxygen chamber that exploded at Oxford Center, a medical facility in a Detroit suburb, on Jan. 31. His mother was standing next to the chamber and was injured trying to save her boy.
“A single spark it appears ignited into a fully involved fire that claimed Thomas’s life within seconds,” Nessel said at a news conference Tuesday.
The attorney general’s office has charged three defendants with second-degree murder: the owner of the Oxford Center, Tamala Peterson, 58; safety manager Jeffery Mosteller, 64; and Gary Marken, 65, the primary management assistant at the facility.
Each faces one count of second-degree murder and one count of involuntary manslaughter.
Aleta Moffitt, 60, of Rochester Hills, who was operating the hyperbaric chamber, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and one count of intentionally placing false medical information on a medical records chart.
“Due to many failures by men and women who would call themselves medical professionals and wanton or willful disregard for the likelihood that their actions would cause the death of a patient, 5-year-old Thomas Cooper was killed when a fire erupted inside the pressurized, pure oxygen environment inside the chamber,” said Nessel.
Nessel said the defendants unscrupulously put children’s bodies at risk through unaccredited and debunked treatments, simply because it brought cash through the door.
“We intend to demonstrate in court a series of actions undertaken by these defendants that satisfy these charges and tragically led to this child’s death,” she said.
Raymond Cassar, Marken’s attorney, said the second-degree murder charge comes as “a total shock” to him and his client.
“For fairness, he is presumed innocent,” Cassar said. “This was a tragic accident and our thoughts and our prayers go out to the family of this little boy. I want to remind everyone that this was an accident, not an intentional act. We’re going to have to leave this up to the experts to find out what was the cause of this.”
The Oxford Center said in an email following 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,” the center’s statement said.
Hyperbaric therapy delivers pure oxygen to a person’s body inside the pressurized chamber. That’s up to five times the amount of oxygen in a normal room, Troy Fire Lt. Keith Young said following the explosion.
“The presence of such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurized environment can make it extremely combustible,” Young said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared hyperbaric chambers to be marketed as safe and effective for a list of 13 disorders, such as severe burns, decompression sickness and non-healing wounds. The list doesn’t include many of the other disorders advertised by the Oxford Center.
NBC News reported that, according to the family’s attorney, the boy had received multiple sessions of hyperbaric therapy for sleep apnea and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. These conditions aren’t approved by the FDA to be marketed as effectively treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
The FDA also recommends that consumers only use hyperbaric centers that are inspected and accredited by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. The Oxford Center doesn’t appear on the society’s February 2025 list of accredited facilities.
Attorney General Nessel said her office extensively consulted experts on hyperbaric chambers and treatments.
“Horrifying and simple conclusions were reached,” she said. “The Oxford Center routinely operated sensitive and lethally dangerous hyperbaric chambers beyond their expected service lifetime and in complete disregard of vital safety measures and practices considered essential by medical and technical professionals.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
