OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – New details have emerged in the death of a 5-year-old boy who was killed in a hyperbaric chamber explosion, giving more insight into the specific allegations against the four workers at the Oakland County facility who’ve been charged.
Thomas Cooper was killed on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, when the hyperbaric chamber he was receiving treatment in at the Oxford Center in Troy exploded. His mother, who was standing near the chamber at the time of the incident, was injured.
Local 4 obtained records from the swear-to hearing, which was held before Magistrate Elizabeth Chiappelli at 52-4 District Court in Troy on March 7.
CEO, 3 other workers charged in hyperbaric chamber explosion
The court documents lay out specific details against the following workers charged in Cooper’s death:
- Tamela Peterson, 58, of Brighton, the founder and CEO of the Oxford Center
- Jeffrey Mosteller, 64, of Clinton Township, the safety director
- Gary Marken, 65, of Spring Arbor, the primary management assistant
- Aleta Moffitt, 60, of Rochester Hills, the operator of the hyperbaric chamber
Peterson, Mosteller and Marken have been arraigned on second-degree murder charges, while Moffitt was arraigned on the charges of involuntary manslaughter and falsifying medical records. Moffitt and Marken have been released on bond.
Oxford Center used pillows that posed fire risk, experts say
Pillows that posed a fire risk were allegedly being used in the chambers, Troy Detective Trigger said in the court documents.
Experts with decades of experience working with hyperbaric chambers were brought in to evaluate the incident.
While at the scene, experts noticed that the pillows used in the hyperbaric chambers at the Oxford Center were filled with 100 percent polyester.
Safety protocols list 100 percent polyester as an item not allowed inside the chambers.
“These pillows were being utilized despite the manufacturer offering hyperbaric-safe pillows for purchase for an added cost,” Trigger said.
Pillows were one of many safety protocols disregarded
The pillows were among the many safety protocols that experts said the Oxford Center “completely disregarded.”
Experts also discovered the following safety issues:
- Cooper wasn’t wearing a grounding strap when he was in the chamber. (Experts believe he’d still be alive if he’d been wearing one.)
- Nobody checked if Cooper was wearing 100 percent cotton before he got into the chamber
- Cooper wasn’t checked for bandages, lotions or other products he might have had on
- CCTV showed Moffitt hand Cooper a blanket from a running dryer to take into the chamber
- No physician was present on the scene
For more information on all the new findings that were revealed in the swear-to hearing document, visit here.
The four workers are scheduled to appear in court again on March 19 for probable cause conferences and March 26 for preliminary examinations.
