Grand jury indicts suspect on food tampering at Phoenix-area stores
Dec 6, 2019, 11:20 AM
(MCSO Photo)
(MCSO Photo)
PHOENIX – A state grand jury has indicted a man accused of tampering with food items at more than a half-dozen stores in metro Phoenix.
Prosecutors for the Arizona Attorney General’s Office said David Claire Lohr knowingly introduced “with intent to harm another human being … poison, bacterium, virus or a chemical compound” to food, drink, medicine or anything else meant to be consumed or “applied to the body.”
Lohr allegedly poured bleach or hydrogen peroxide on the items at seven stores. He was charged on 10 felony counts, nine of them for the attempted poisonings.
The reported tampering occurred Oct. 1-29, 2018, at Targets in Chandler, Phoenix, Tempe and Scottsdale; two Walgreens in Tempe; and a Safeway in Tempe.
A Phoenix Fire Department hazmat crew determined a substance poured on items at a Target was a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and vinegar.
First responders had been called to the store at 48th Street and Ray Road after receiving reports that a man had splashed a liquid on items.
The Attorney General’s Office said in a press release no one had reported any illness associated with the consumption of the tampered items.
Lohr has been held in federal custody. He also faces one count of criminal damage.
He had been arrested in California on similar charges in February.
There, Lohr is believed to have poured bleach into refrigerators or freezers while the grocery store locations were open, according to the FBI.
He will be returned to Arizona to face the state charges after the federal case has finished.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
