Man Pleads Guilty in Medicine Tampering

By AP

SEATTLE (AP) A Snohomish man who replaced cold medicine on store shelves with a potentially dangerous antibiotic has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of product tampering.

James Christopher Ayers, 28, was arrested in September after a woman complained about a box of Target Corp. brand cold and allergy medicine she bought at the Northgate Mall in Seattle.

The woman, a registered nurse, noticed that the medicine inside was not cold medicine: It was the antibiotic tetracycline.

Analyzing store surveillance videos and receipts, Target officials and investigators realized that Ayers had in a couple of cases bought boxes of cold medicine, taken them home, removed the cold medicine, inserted the antibiotics, resealed the package and returned the box, which was then put back on store shelves. He did this at the Northgate Mall Target as well as at the Everett Mall Target in Everett, though his guilty plea, accepted by the court Wednesday, refers specifically to the latter case.

Ayers had previously been arrested twice for methamphetamine possession. Cold medicine is an ingredient in meth.

No one was injured as a result of Ayers actions; prosecutors noted that Ayers did not intend to harm anyone.

Ayers is to be sentenced in February.