OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – The CEO and three other workers who were charged after a 5-year-old boy was killed in a hyperbaric chamber explosion at an Oakland County health care facility have been bound over.
Tamela Peterson, 59, of Brighton, Jeffrey Mosteller, 65, of Clinton Township, Gary Marken, 66, of Spring Arbor, and Aleta Moffitt, 61, of Rochester Hills, were charged after Thomas Cooper was killed when the hyperbaric chamber he was receiving treatment in exploded at the Oxford Center in Troy on Jan. 31, 2025. The boy’s mother was also injured in the explosion.
On Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, 52-4 District Court Judge Maureen McGinnis determined that there is probable cause to bind each defendant over to a higher court, where they could face trial.
Peterson, the Oxford Center’s founder and CEO, along with Mosteller, the safety manager, and Marken, the primary management assistant, were charged with second-degree murder.
They were also given the alternative charge of involuntary manslaughter, which means that a jury will decide which charge accurately fits their conduct.
Moffitt, who was allegedly operating the hyperbaric chamber at the time of the explosion, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and falsifying medical records.
The four workers are accused of ignoring several safety guidelines for operating hyperbaric chambers, including failing to use a grounding wrist strap, rolling back the chamber cycle count, giving the 5-year-old boy a blanket straight from a running dryer, using polyester pillows and more.
As the judge read her decision on Tuesday, she noted that this decision comes after considerable time and attention on the evidence presented, including over seven days of testimony that filled over 1,900 pages when transcribed, hundreds of pages of exhibits and dozens of photos and videos that captured moments leading up to and the death of Thomas.
“To establish that there were acts perpetrated by Peterson, Marken and Mosteller that ultimately caused Thomas’ death the People presented evidence to show that the defendants actively participated in the decision-making and enforcement of a mandate that all patients of the Oxford Center in Troy, including Thomas Cooper, could not wear a key safety component, the wrist grounding strap, when receiving treatment at the facility,” McGinnis said.
In addition to grounding straps not being used at the facility, the judge also noted the lack of physical safety checks before patients go into chambers and said that the testimony did not support the idea that Peterson was an “aloof” CEO.
She said evidence showed that Peterson was responsible for ordering polyester pillow fillings and communicating with employees at Sechrsit, the manufacturer of the chambers.
The judge said former employees testified that Peterson was the Oxford Center’s top decision-maker, with Marken as her right-hand, and Mosteller being in third command.
When referring to Moffitt’s charges, she said that a former employee testified that she was excellent at her job and wasn’t afraid to ask questions, and despite not being certified as a hyperbaric technician, that Moffitt was trained as a hyperbaric technician and had worked at the center for multiple years.
McGinnis said that when it comes to the falsifying medical records charge, even though there is testimony that revealed pre-charting information was done by some employees, especially when they were busy overseeing multiple patients at once, entering the end time for a treatment in Thomas’ chart was inaccurate because the end of his treatment hadn’t yet occurred.
“Given the Court’s findings after the conclusion of the preliminary exam, this court today is binding each defendant over both of their original felony counts consistent with the ruling that’s been issued on the record today.”
The judge’s decision comes after the prosecution and defense made their final arguments on Tuesday, Jan. 20.
Prosecutors argued they established probable cause that the Oxford Center leaders knowingly ignored serious safety risks, including eliminating required grounding wrist straps, skipping maintenance, and violating industry standards, and that those decisions directly led to the hyperbaric chamber explosion that killed Thomas.
Defense attorneys argued that the exact cause of the fire remains unproven, the fire chief’s report remains unfinished, and that each defendant either reasonably relied on others, lacked safety authority, or followed existing policies and training.
Read more -- > Oakland County hyperbaric chamber explosion: Fate of CEO, workers now in hands of judge
Testimony during preliminary examination
During the hearing, the first witness called to testify was Tiffany Hosey, a Certified Hyperbaric Technologist (CHT) and Certified Hyperbaric and Wound Specialist (CHWS), who worked at the Oxford Center from fall 2020 until spring 2024.
She said she was let go after she expressed safety concerns, including patients in hyperbaric chambers being grounded. She said she questioned Mosteller regarding policies over the phone, through email, through Teams messages and in person.
Hosey said she asked Peterson multiple times why grounding straps weren’t used. She reportedly said grounding straps presented suffocation risks and that Mosteller had done independent tests that “proved” they weren’t necessary.
The test reportedly had a staff member lying still on a stretcher without a sheet, not in a pressurized hyperbaric chamber. The test did not alleviate Hosey’s concerns.
“My primary concern was that we were putting grounding straps on the patients who are going inside the hyperbaric chamber,” Hosey said. “It is used to reduce the risk of fire due to static electricity.”
Francois Burman and Andrew Melnyczenko, experts who each have nearly 30 years of experience working with hyperbaric chambers, also testified about the importance of grounding wrist straps in monoplace chambers.
He said that while a grounding strap doesn’t eliminate the risk of discharge, it reduces it to being nearly impossible. He added that he would never allow a child in a monoplace chamber without a grounding strap.
“The risk is just too high,” Burman said. “There’s no logical reason to do that.”
Andrew Melnyczenko also highlighted that safety protocols, including documented safety pauses and grounding checks, were not consistently followed at the Oxford Center.
Troy Detective Ryan Whiteside testified about reviewing video footage of Thomas’ 35 treatments, noting the child never wore a grounding bracelet and was often given blankets right from the dryer, which contributes to static buildup.
The lead detective on the chase, Troy Detective Danielle Trigger, described arriving at the “chaotic” scene at the Oxford Center on the day of the explosion. She testified that grounding wrist straps were found unused in a “junk drawer” at the facility, indicating they were not routinely used.
Trigger also reviewed training materials, which emphasized the importance of grounding patients and fire prevention protocols, and shared details about phone calls that ended a police interview with a defendant.
Troy Fire Department Deputy Chief Shawn Hugg testified about securing the Oxford Center after the explosion and his investigation into the cause of the fire.
Hugg said static electric discharge was the likely cause of the fire, meeting all five conditions necessary for a static-induced fire ignition, but also testified that there is still some evidence that needs to be tested.
He explained reviewing safety guidelines for hyperbaric chambers, including approved materials and the importance of grounding straps to prevent static buildup in oxygen-rich environments, and said a grounding strap likely would have reduced the risk of ignition in this case.
Hugg said he relied on expert reports to support his findings and acknowledged that he cannot, with absolute certainty, rule out fabric-to-fabric static as a cause of the fire.
Former Oxford Center employee Andrew McMullen testified that during his time at the Oxford Center, from 2017 to 2021, leadership repeatedly dismissed his safety concerns about static electricity, grounding wrist straps, and children being treated alone in hyperbaric chambers.
He said grounding wrist straps were never part of his training and that when he raised questions after experiencing a static shock and observing a child’s hair standing up, signifying static buildup, he was told by Peterson that the straps were unnecessary.
McMullen also testified that children were increasingly treated alone, despite his warnings about unpredictable behavior and emergency risks, and that Peterson responded to those concerns by telling him to “deal with it.”
He described Peterson as the final decision-maker on safety and treatment practices, with concerns from staff routinely brushed off.
Bowen Geng, a former Oxford Center employee for 10 years, testified that grounding wrist straps required to prevent static electricity in hyperbaric chambers were discontinued around 2017 at the direction of Peterson, despite manufacturer and fire safety standards requiring their use.
He said he was surprised when the straps stopped being used but was told they were unnecessary, and confirmed the practice ended before safety director Jeff Mosteller was hired.
Geng also testified about training practices, safety checks, and chamber operations, noting that while staff emphasized patient care and routine safety procedures, not using grounding straps created a risk of fire.
For a full deep dive into what we learned during the preliminary hearing, check out the following stories: