99 Cents Only Stores ordered to pay more than $400,000 for selling illegal pesticides

99 Cents Stores fined for illegal pesticides

COMMERCE, Calif. — A federal judge has ordered 99 Cents Only Stores Inc. to pay more than $400,000 in penalties for selling illegal pesticides in various household products.

The decision announced Wednesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cited 166 violations that dealt with pesticides that were unregistered with the federal agency and also misbranded.

A phone message left for 99 Cents Stores, which has headquarters in Commerce, Calif., was not immediately returned Wednesday.

The fine is the largest contested penalty ever ordered by an EPA administrative law judge against a product retailer under a federal pesticide act.

Some of the products were sold in California, Arizona and Nevada. The violations were found by state inspectors between 2004 and 2008.