Pest control company Terminix is set to pay $87 million to a Delaware family devastated by the application of illegal pesticide at a Virgin Islands condo. 
 
 Steve Esmond, Theresa Devine and their teenagers Ryan and Sean all became seriously ill shortly after arriving at their vacation home on St. John last year. 
 
 Terminix has admitted that one of its workers sprayed the apartment below with methyl bromide, an odorless gas that was banned from indoor use in 1984 and can cause severe damage to the nervous and respiratory systems. 
 
 The company’s parent organization ServiceMaster Global Holdings Inc. said in a second quarter earnings report that it has “reached a tentative settlement agreement to settle all civil claims of the affected family related to the U.S. Virgin Islands matter.” 
 
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 Dr. Theresa Devine has recovered from the exposure to methyl bromide, though her sons have fared far worse. (Facebook) 
 
 The $87 million, first reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, follows $3 million previously paid to cover the insurance deductible. 
 
 Devine suffered the least from the fumes, though the rest of her family was debilitated by the illegal spraying. 
 
 As of last September, Steve Esmond was still suffering from “severe tremors” and had trouble turning pages in a book, the family’s lawyer James Maron told CNN. 
 
 A Terminix worker had sprayed the apartment below the Esmond's condo on St. John. (YouTube) 
 
 He said that the sons, who played lacrosse at the Wilmington private school where their dad was an administrator, were conscious but barely able to move. 
 
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 It was not immediately clear on Monday if additional recovery progress had been made, and Maron, Marvel, Bradley & Anderson LLC, which is representing the Esmonds, had no comment on Monday afternoon. 
 
 The family met and were blessed by Pope Francis when he came to Philadelphia last year. 
 
 Money to the family from Terminix comes in addition to Terminix agreeing to pay a $10 million fine to the federal government that will help pay for the Environmental Protection Agency’s cleanup of the Virgin Islands home that caused the horror. 
 
 Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! ||||| Stephen Esmond, an administrator at the private Tatnall School, is conscious but unable to move, his lawyer has told CNN. 
 
 Stephen Esmond, an administrator at the private Tatnall School, is conscious but unable to move, his lawyer has told CNN. 
 
 A pest-control company has agreed to pay $10 million in penalties for using a dangerous pesticide at a U.S. Virgin Islands resort where a Delaware family fell critically ill, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. 
 
 Terminix International Co. LP and its U.S. Virgin Islands operation agreed to plead guilty to four counts of violating federal pesticide law in a deal with prosecutors that still needs to be approved by a judge. 
 
 According to information filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of the Virgin Islands, the Wilmington family was staying at the Sirenusa resort in St. John last March when they were exposed to methyl bromide, which had been sprayed in an adjacent unit. 
 
 Stephen Esmond, an administrator at the Tatnall School in Wilmington; his wife, Theresa Devine, a dentist; and their two teenage sons were hospitalized. The sons spent weeks in medically induced comas. 
 
 The family was blessed by Pope Francis at a brief meeting at Philadelphia International Airport as the pontiff was leaving the city after his weekend visit in September. 
 
 Methyl bromide can cause convulsions, coma, and cognitive deficits. The indoor use of products containing the chemical was banned by the federal government in 1984 and the remaining uses are highly restricted. 
 
 As part of the plea deal, Terminix agreed to make good-faith efforts to cover medical expenses for the family through a separate civil proceeding. If the expenses are not resolved, prosecutors said they may reopen the sentencing proceedings. 
 
 The four criminal counts cover the illegal use of methyl bromide twice at the St. John resort, once in St. Croix, and once in St. Thomas. 
 
 "The facts in this case show the Terminix companies knowingly failed to properly manage their pest control operations in the U.S. Virgin Islands, allowing pesticides containing methyl bromide to be applied illegally and exposing a family of four to profoundly debilitating injuries," said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden. 
 
 ServiceMaster Global Holdings Inc., the parent company of Terminix, filed a notice Tuesday to investors about the plea agreement. Citing the judge's pending decision on the plea deal, a company spokesman declined to comment. 
 
 The $10 million in penalties consist of $8 million in fines, $1 million in restitution for the government's response and cleanup at the St. John resort, and $1 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to fund training for pesticide applicators in the U.S. Virgin Islands. 
 
 bmoran@phillynews.com 
 
 215-854-5983@RobertMoran215 ||||| Two Delaware teenagers sickened by a banned pesticide that was sprayed at the Caribbean resort where they were staying are still in critical condition more than six weeks later, their family said Monday. 
 
 Sean and Ryan Esmond and their parents fell ill after an applicator working for Terminix used methyl bromide at the resort in the U.S. Virgin Islands. 
 
 The teens are hospitalized in Philadelphia. Their father and mother, Stephen Esmond and Theresa Devine, continue to undergo therapy, said the family's statement, which provided the first update on the family's medical condition in a month. 
 
 "The Esmond Family thanks the nation for its outpouring of support and concern for the family's recovery from this unthinkable tragedy of pesticide poisoning during their family vacation," the statement said. 
 
 The Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice and authorities in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are investigating. 
 
 The EPA said in April that its probe had found the toxic pesticide was used at the Sirenusa Condominium Resort in St. John several times in the past and may have improperly been used in Puerto Rico. The agency banned the chemical for residential use in 1984. 
 
 "The family is confident that those responsible will be brought to justice," the Esmonds' statement said. 
 
 Stephen Esmond is head of a private middle school in Wilmington, Delaware, and Devine is a dentist in the Philadelphia suburbs. The family had traveled to the Virgin Islands for vacation with several other families from Wilmington's private Tatnall School. 
 
 Methyl bromide, an odorless and highly toxic gas, can severely damage the lungs and brain. The chemical was applied to a vacant unit directly beneath the Esmonds' unit at the posh resort overlooking Cruz Bay, environmental regulators say. 
 
 The teenagers' prognosis depends on how long they were exposed and how much they breathed in, said Dr. Reynold Panettieri, deputy director of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology at the University of Pennsylvania's medical school. 
 
 "The potential for meaningful recovery is still there," Panettieri, who is not involved in the teens' care, said recently. "As you get farther and farther out, the potential for meaningful survival and living independently is going to become less and less likely." 
 
 Terminix, the Memphis, Tennessee-based pest-control firm, said Monday it is cooperating with investigators and conducting its own internal inquiry. The company added it has halted all fumigation operations in the U.S. Virgin Islands and reinforced its policies and procedures with all employees. 
 
 The Virgin Islands' Department of Planning and Natural Resources has suspended the Terminix applicator's license. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Ben Fox in Miami contributed to this report.
– A Delaware family poisoned by a toxic pesticide during their 2015 Virgin Islands vacation will receive an $87 million settlement from the parent company of Terminix, which admitted using the banned chemical at the resort where they stayed, CBS News reports. Per the New York Daily News, a ServiceMaster Global Holdings earnings report released Thursday first made mention of the payout "to settle all civil claims of the affected family related to the US Virgin Islands matter." The company has already paid $3 million to cover the insurance deductible for the Esmonds, who were severely injured after Terminix workers sprayed methyl bromide—banned for indoor residential use since 1984—in the St. John condo unit below their own, per the Philadelphia Inquirer. A September CNN report documented the horrifying consequences of the neurotoxin suffered by the Esmonds. Dad Stephen Esmond could barely speak at the time, was unable to turn the pages of a book, and suffered from tremors, while his two teen sons, former athletes who were in medically induced comas for weeks after the incident, were barely able to move. "Neurologically, it's like being in a torture chamber," a family attorney said. Mom Theresa Devine recovered more quickly and was looking after her family. (The Daily News and Inquirer note that no further word on their progress has been made available.) ServiceMaster has also agreed to pay up to $10 million in "fines, community service, and government costs" as part of the settlement, which is subject to court approval at an Aug. 25 hearing. An investigation by the DOJ is also in the works.