Man admits to illegally shipping fireworks through mail

ST. LOUIS -- The owner of a fireworks distribution company has pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally shipping explosives and other fireworks components.

Frederick A. Ellis, owner and president of PyroWorks LLC, pleaded guilty Friday on six misdemeanor counts of illegally shipping banned substances through the mail. The case was investigated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson set sentencing for Aug. 25.

The commission filed a civil lawsuit against PyroWorks in January. On Thursday, Judge Jackson also approved a consent decree resolving that case, in which Ellis and his company are to destroy all their stock and quit the business.

Ellis, 28, of Blackwell, admitted he made illegal shipments on six occasions from December 2002 to January 2005. In one case, on June 22, 2003, he sent 8 pounds of blackhead aluminum powder, an explosive, to a customer in Illinois. He also admitted illegally shipping tubes, end caps, fuses and potassium perchlorate, a fireworks fuel.

In January, another participant in PyroWorks, Christina Beck, 28, of Arnold, pleaded guilty on four misdemeanor counts of illegally distributing banned substances.