Jeffrey Mosteller, 66, the former safety director of the Oxford Center in Troy, Michigan, was sentenced Monday in Oakland County Circuit Court to 19 months to 15 years in prison after pleading no contest to involuntary manslaughter in the death of 5-year-old Thomas Cooper. The boy died on January 31, 2025, when a fire erupted inside the hyperbaric oxygen chamber he was in, triggering an explosion. According to an expert who reviewed video of the incident, Thomas squirmed enough to pull a sheet off a mattress inside the chamber, creating a static electric spark that became a flash fire—incinerating him within seconds due to the oxygen-rich environment. His mother, standing nearby, suffered severe burns to her arms and chest while desperately trying to open the chamber.
Thomas had been undergoing treatment for ADHD and sleep apnea at the facility, which treats children for a range of conditions including autism and autoimmune diseases. During sentencing, Judge Kwamé Rowe sharply criticized Mosteller’s failure to act after discovering the facility did not use grounding straps, which discharge static electricity and prevent sparks inside the chamber. “It was incumbent upon you to say something,” Rowe said. “I don’t understand the reasoning behind Mr. Mosteller ignoring National Fire Code, ignoring the Sechrist manual and ignoring his own training that he would have received in HBOT.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office said NFPA and Sechrist safety protocols were deliberately discarded, calling it “a completely preventable tragedy” caused by allowing “an outdated device to operate in defiance of safety standards.” Mosteller’s attorney, Alona Sharon, conceded the no-grounding-strap practice predated her client’s employment but acknowledged he failed to correct it, describing him as “someone who made a horrific mistake in this case that caused a tremendous loss for this family.” Assistant Michigan Attorney General Chris Kessel told the court: “The real-world consequence of that was that a 5-year-old boy whose life hadn’t even started burned alive while his mother watched.”
Three other former Oxford Center employees face pending charges: CEO Tamela Peterson, 58, and facility manager Gary Marken, 65, are charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, while chamber operator Aleta Moffitt, 60, faces involuntary manslaughter and falsified medical records charges. Thomas’s family, who found the loss too painful to address in court, has filed a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against the clinic and the chamber’s manufacturer.
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