SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) _ A Citizens Energy official who oversees first responders for the utility told jurors that when he responded to an Indianapolis house explosion in 2012 he found a natural gas regulator was missing.
Paul Puckett testified Wednesday in the trial of Mark Leonard that a piece of hard piping had been put in place of the regulator at the home Leonard shared with his then-girlfriend Monserrate Shirley. Puckett said gas pumped into a home is normally at about one-quarter-of-a-pound per square inch by the time it reaches appliances. Without a regulator, the gas would remain at 2 PSI.
Leonard is charged with murder, arson and other charges in the explosion the explosion that killed two people and destroyed or damaged dozens of houses.