Man sentenced for planting syringe in potato chips

[February 13, 2009]  DENVER (AP) -- A 35-year-old man was sentenced to five years of probation for planting a syringe in a bag of potato chips.

The man pleaded guilty in November to tampering with a consumer product. A federal judge ordered him Thursday not to contact Frito-Lay Corp. during his probation.

The man originally told the company last year that he noticed a funny taste while eating chips and found a syringe in the bag. Food and Drug Administration investigators later determined he and a friend had conspired to extort money from Frito-Lay by planting the syringe, which his friend had used to inject crack cocaine.

In 2006, the man filed a complaint against Frito-Lay claiming he found a hole in a bag of Baken-Ets and felt sick after eating them.

[Associated Press]

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