Published: March 05, 2009 01:25 pm      

1:25 p.m.: Second Chance closing Antrim plant

CENTRAL LAKE — Second Chance Armor Inc.’s plant in Antrim County will close by mid-summer, costing 88 employees their jobs.

Michael Munz, a spokesman for Safariland Inc., parent company of Second Chance, said employees and management at the manufacturing plant in Central Lake were informed of closure plans on Wednesday afternoon.

Work will be shifted to Safariland’s operations in Jacksonville, Fla. The Central Lake plant’s operations will be phased out over the next few months and likely will wind down by late June, Munz said.

Second Chance dates to the 1970s in Central Lake, and once was the country’s leading producer of soft, concealable body armor for police officers.

But operations started to unravel when it was sued by several states and the U.S. Justice Department over allegations the equipment prematurely lost its bullet resistance with age. Second Chance filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004 and was purchased a year later by Armor Holdings Inc. for $45 million.