Man Accused of Poisoning Company's Coffee

Link : http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041101/ap_on_fe_st/poisoned_coffee&e=5

SCHILLER PARK, Ill. - A man was accused of placing hazardous chemicals in his company's coffeepot, according to authorities. Kemarat Vathananand was angry at a vice president of Schiller Park-based Castle Metal Finishing Corp. who told him he could not drink coffee in the shop area, investigators said.



Vathananand, a pollution control operator who has worked at the company for 15 years, was charged Friday with attempted murder and unlawful tampering with food. A Cook County judge ordered Vathananand, 50, held on $100,000 bond.


Vathananand is accused of placing sodium dimethyldithiocarbamate, lead acetate and urine in the coffeepots. No one at the company became seriously ill, said Tom Stanton, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office.


Employees first noticed a bitter taste in the coffee three months ago, and bought new coffeepots, said Mike Marrazzo, a spokesman for Schiller Park Police. When that didn't help, an employee ran a test on a sample of coffee, and it came back positive for lead acetate, authorities said.


Schiller Park Police installed a hidden camera in mid-October, and just over a week later, Vathananand was captured on tape pouring something into the coffee maker, Stanton said.