Orlando gun range exposed people to toxic amounts of lead and fired employee who reported it, feds say

Dec. 11--An Orlando shooting range was forced to pay a former employee $30,000 after firing him for reporting the range to the feds for toxic lead levels.

The Shooting Range Gallery at 2911 39th St. was sued by the U.S. Department of Labor in Orlando federal court. The dispute was settled Dec. 6.

Christopher Moore, who worked as a safety range officer at the Shooting Range Gallery at 2911 39th St. for a year and a half, reported the range to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration after his children tested positive for lead poisoning during their summer break from school in 2016.

Moore said he was worried they might have been exposed because of his job at the range, the lawsuit says.

The children's physician reported the poisoning to the Orange County Health Department, according to the lawsuit. It did not specify how sick the children were.

Moore's fiancee confronted his manager, Tracy Robertson, at the range, but Robertson told her "it was Moore's own fault if he exposed his children to high levels of lead and that it was not the owner's responsibility to protect him or take care of his hygiene," the suit states.

Moore's fiancee informed the manager she planned to contact OSHA. Robertson later told Moore the range's owner, Johnny Lwin, would probably fire him, the suit says.

The next day, Moore submitted a complaint to OSHA. About a week later, Robertson fired Moore at the owner's direction, according to the suit.

The lawsuit, filed in Orlando federal court on Dec. 6, alleged that Lwin retaliated against Moore and that the decision to fire Moore "deters employees from reporting potential safety and health hazards at the worksite and/or from cooperating with OSHA in future investigations."

Lwin did not respond to requests for comment.

After an inspection of the property, OSHA issued three citations to the shooting range, "for exposure to three times the permissible amount of lead in the lobby and shooting range, accumulations of lead on surfaces around the range, and failure to train employees on hazards associated with lead in the work area."

Moore also filed an additional complaint with OSHA after he was fired alleging that he had been discriminated against. OSHA investigated and determined the range had violated the law.

As part of the settlement, Shooting Range Gallery must post information about lead safety and provide training to employees, including information about "the right to report actual or potential violations without fear of retaliation."

Moore could not be located for comment.

You can email Caroline at cglenn@orlandosentinel.com or call 407-420-5685, and follow her on Twitter @bycarolineglenn.

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