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Hearing set in explosives case involving Kan. company

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A change-of-plea hearing has been set for a former official of a company that abandoned tons of potentially explosive artillery propellant in Louisiana.

Koons photo Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center

Lionel Koons was inventory control manager for Explo Systems when it went bankrupt in 2013, leaving 7,800 tons (7,100 metric tons) of M6 propellant on land leased from the Louisiana National Guard.

He has pleaded not guilty to 31 counts.

Online court records show that Friday, Judge Elizabeth Foote scheduled a change-of-plea hearing for Koons next Friday in Shreveport.

One company co-owner pleaded guilty in December to reduced charges.

Trial is scheduled in June for the other owner and four co-defendants.

Prosecutors say they will show the second owner also ordered employees of a Kansas company to store explosives in unsafe conditions from 2000 into 2002.

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