COVINGTON, Ky. -- A northern Kentucky fireworks dealer is trying to reclaim several truckloads of pyrotechnics taken by the federal government.
The warehouse and retail store owned by Sam Droganes was raided in July 2007 after federal officials cited fireworks violations. The government is holding 44 truckloads of the fireworks in an underground bunker, though some have been deemed legal by a federal expert.
Attorneys for Droganes have estimated the legal fireworks are worth about $3 million.
The government is paying $87,000 per month to store the 1 million pounds of fireworks in 10 underground bunkers at the former Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant in Nebraska. The government has paid a total of $1.74 million to Heritage Disposal and Storage, the company that now runs the old Army site.
"In these economic times, such waste occasioned by an improper seizure of legal property, in the main, should shock the conscience," Droganes' attorneys, Gary Sergent and Bruce McClure, wrote in a recent court filing.
The Justice Department first paid a consulting firm to test the fireworks to determine which were legal, according to court filings. The government's report concluded 43 percent of the fireworks were legal.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning has ordered the legal fireworks be returned, but prosecutors say they are too unstable and should be destroyed.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elaine Leonhard wrote in a letter dated March 11 that authorities would compensate Droganes, who lives in Fort Mitchell, for the legal fireworks.
Leonhard admitted in court filings that legal fireworks were seized, but said an integral part of the investigation is that Droganes was mislabeling fireworks at his Chinese factory to make them appear as if they were legal to sell. She said correspondence, including e-mails, will be submitted as evidence at trial to prove Droganes knew he was engaged in mislabeling the fireworks, Leonhard said.
Federal agents raided Premium Fireworks in July 2007. The company had offices and a store in Covington in addition to a warehouse in Taylor Mill.
Droganes is scheduled to go to trial Aug. 17 on charges of dealing, transporting and distributing explosives without a license. He has remained free on his own recognizance .