Digital Pre-Press International Printing Company Owner Pleads Guilty In Death Of Pregnant San Francisco Worker

The owner of a printing company whose machinery crushed a pregnant worker to death has pled guilty to criminal charges, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced Thursday.

Sanjay Sakhuja, owner and CEO of Digital Pre-Press International, pled guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and five counts of labor code violations. Alick Yeung, a manager at the time of the incident, pled guilty to one count of labor code violations as well.

"The law should afford everyone the right to a safe working environment," Gascón said in a statement. "We will not stand idly by, when corporations and their owners should be held criminally liable for fatalities at the workplace."

Twenty-six-year-old Margarita Mojica was killed on the job in 2008 by a cutting and creasing machine that unexpectedly started, crushing her entire upper body. She was four months pregnant at the time, and her unborn child didn't survive.

Court records show that employees at the company were not properly trained on safety procedures, and that at the time of the incident, Mojica lacked required devices to protect her.

If convicted, Sakhuja could face a fine of $250,000 and up to five years in state prison.

Digital Pre-Press International paid Mojica's family, including her husband and young daughter, $6 million as an earlier settlement.