A Columbia company that developed sensors and other products to detect tiny amounts of dangerous substances shut down last week, filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with liabilities totaling $89.5 million and no assets.

Raptor Detection Inc. is no longer in business, former CEO Jonathan P. Gluckman said Monday. Gluckman now is general manager and executive vice president of Raptor Detection Technologies LLC, also of Columbia.

The latter detection and forensics collection company is a different entity from Raptor Detection Inc., and the two businesses are not related, Gluckman said. He referred questions about the bankruptcy petition to the company’s attorney, Joseph R. Laumann of Annapolis, who could not be reached for comment Monday.

The products of Raptor Detection Inc. included screening wipes and sprays, along with paintballs designed to help thwart counterfeiting and smuggling, according to business information company Hoovers. A subsidiary, Columbia BioSystems, worked with the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University and other organizations to develop the products to detect hospital-acquired pathogens.

Gluckman is among the creditors listed in the bankruptcy petition filed Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Baltimore. As a shareholder, he has a claim of $16.5 million.

Chapter 7 liquidates a bankrupt business, whereas Chapter 11 protects a company from creditors while it reorganizes its finances. Most business bankruptcies are Chapter 7, with almost 500 filed in Maryland in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, compared with 150 Chapter 11 filings, according to federal court statistics.

The number of Chapter 7 cases in Maryland declined 17 percent from the previous 12-month period, while Chapter 11 filings dropped 34 percent.

Other shareholder claims listed in Raptor Detection Inc.’s petition include $1.7 million by Alexander Consulting Group of Villa Park, Calif.; $8.65 million by Cede of New York; and $490,000 by Pell Communications of Reisterstown. All told, the petition listed from 200 to 999 creditors.

A meeting for creditors has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Jan. 23 at 101 W. Lombard St., Baltimore.

Raptor Detection Technologies LLC is a Michigan limited liability company wholly owned by Royal Oak Industries, a Bloomfield Hills, Mich., precision-machine parts manufacturing company.

That company always has been “completely unrelated” to the bankrupt entity, said Christopher Lievois, vice president of business operations and general counsel of Royal Oak Industries.

kshay@gazette.net