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Second Schlitterbahn company named in criminal indictment

Posted at 5:57 PM, Mar 27, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-28 10:07:50-04

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- A second company associated with Schlitterbahn has been named in a newly unsealed criminal indictment.

Henry & Sons Construction is listed as a co-defendant in the murder case of 10 year old Caleb Schwab.

The boy died on the Verruckt water slide in 2016.

According to the indictment, Henry & Sons was the design and construction company for Verruckt.

Reviews posted online by people who identify themselves as former employees raise safety concerns before the Schwab tragedy. 

On the job website Indeed.com, a person who identifies himself as a former welder for Henry & Sons submitted a February 2015 review for the company.

The review claims management would ignore issues or "let them pass" like damaged work equipment.

The welder also says managers wouldn't require a safety harness to work six feet off the ground and they "just wanted to get the job done no matter how risky it could be."

Other review headlines include "Unsafe Working Environment", "Lack of Management Skills" and "Unorganized."

At least one poster, however, gave the company five stars, calling it "an amazing place to work." 

The latest indictment states company owner Jeff Henry hired a man named John Hunsucker as a consultant for the operation and safety of Verruckt.

But Hunsucker told investigators that while he could make suggestions, it was only Henry who made the decisions.

The indictment further says Henry never asked Hunsucker to check if the water slide met industry safety standards, which the indictment claims in many ways it did not.

When the 41 Action News Investigators reached Hunsucker by phone, he declined comment.