TROY, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The CEO of a hyperbaric chamber clinic in Oakland County allegedly ran away from detectives and forced her son to scrub her laptop following the death of a five-year-old boy.

A tragedy.

The accusations against Tamela Peterson, the CEO of the Oxford Center in Troy, come after 5-year-old Thomas Cooper was burned alive inside one of the center’s hyperbaric oxygen chambers on Jan. 31.

MORE NEWS: VIDEO: VP Vance to Protestors in Bay City – ‘Don’t You All Have Jobs?’

In spite of Peterson’s efforts, police did find electronic messages on her devices. A detective said one of the exchanges included Peterson saying something like “If my leg was on fire, I would at least try to hit it and put it out. He just laid there and did nothing.” According to a March 7 court transcript, she appeared to support any patient’s ailment as a basis for treatment, saying “Whatever gets bodies in those chambers, lol.”

The charges.

The 58-year-old Brighton resident faces second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges in the boy’s death. She’s not alone: the Oxford Center’s operations director, Gary Marken, 65, of Spring Arbor, and its safety and training director, Jeffrey Mosteller, 64, of Clinton Township are facing the same charges. In addition, Aleta Harward Moffitt, 60, of Rochester Hills, was the operator of the chamber on the day of Thomas’ death and is charged with involuntary manslaughter and intentionally placing false information on a medical record.

Unapproved therapies.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved hyperbaric oxygen therapy for autism, cerebral palsy, cancer and autoimmune diseases, which the Oxford Center treated. Thomas was undergoing dozens of treatments for ADHD and sleep apnea, which are also not approved conditions for use in a hyperbaric chamber.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel called the business “unscrupulous.” The chamber that Thomas died in had not undergone routine maintenance or inspection by the manufacturer since 2022.