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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Man Lied About Bleeding Into Food

(CN) - A man who falsely claimed on Facebook that he bled diseased blood into food, made by a company that fired him, faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges.

Luke A. Truesdell, 40, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, pleaded guilty Friday to communicating false information that a consumer product had been tainted, and making a false statement to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, prosecutors said.

Truesdell admitted he lied to the FDA in January 2012, shortly after he was fired.

"Truesdell told the FDA he was a Hepatitis B carrier and then falsely claimed he had bled into batches of an FDA regulated consumer product manufactured by his former employer," the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cedar Rapids said in a statement.

"Truesdell also admitted that on Jan. 27, 2012, he posted similar, false information on the Facebook page of one of his former employer's customers."

Prosecutors did not say what the "consumer product" was.

The Cedar Rapids Post-Gazette reported that it was food.

Truesdell is in custody pending sentencing. He faces up to 10 years in prison, 6 years of supervised release and a $500,000 fine.

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