Farmer’s relative person of interest in cow deaths
ALGONA, Wash. – A man whose home was the target of a search by federal agents investigating a toxic substance that killed dairy cattle is related by marriage to the dairy farmer, a newspaper reported Saturday.
Farmer John Koopman acknowledged the relationship Friday, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.
The Algona man, considered a person of interest in the investigation, has not been arrested or charged, the P-I reported.
He has not answered phone calls and declined to talk to reporters outside his home.
The P-I quoted an unidentified federal source as saying investigators are still trying to learn why someone put the toxic substance on Koopman’s cows earlier this month at his farm in Enumclaw, about 35 miles southeast of Seattle. Algona, also in south King County, is a few miles west of Enumclaw.
Three cows have died and seven others were sickened. Koopman has estimated his losses, including discarded milk and the dead and ill cows, at $100,000. His farm was running again Friday.
“This is a very difficult time — overwhelming,” he said Friday. “I’m just a farmer.”
He refused comment beyond acknowledging the Algona man is a relative.
Citing unidentified federal sources, the P-I has reported the toxic material contained chromium 6, the cancer-causing substance that brought fame to Erin Brockovich in her 1996 water pollution case against Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
The Algona man has been involved in the metal-plating business, the newspaper said, and chromium 6 can be a byproduct of chrome plating.
FBI investigators were at the Algona home for several hours Thursday, searching a garage and a shed, and left with bags and boxes, the P-I reported earlier.
A neighbor who declined to be identified said she saw investigators pulling several large guns from the ground behind the home. Another neighbor, Nick Morigi, said the resident installed sod about three days ago over bare dirt.
FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs would not comment on the agents’ search or its connection to the attack at Koopman’s farm.
Koopman noticed June 6 that 10 of his Holsteins had a mysterious, reddish-black substance on their backs that blistered the skin.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration identified the substance as a strong oxidizing chromium compound, but wouldn’t say exactly what the compound included or how it might have gotten on the cows.
Dr. Robert Brackett, food safety director for the FDA, said he didn’t want to discuss specifics for fear of compromising the criminal investigation.
Koopman pulled from distribution all milk from the sick animals but the FDA said earlier this week that its tests on that milk showed even lower levels of chromium than allowed in drinking water.