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Saturday, August 30, 1997

Ex-lab worker accused of poisoning co-workers with bacteria

DALLAS (AP) -- A former hospital employee has been indicted on charges that she sickened a dozen co-workers by injecting bacteria from a laboratory into muffins and doughnuts.

Diane Thompson, 26, who worked in a laboratory at St. Paul Medical Center, was indicted Thursday on three felony charges of tampering with a consumer product. She faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on each of the charges if she is convicted.

"The seriousness of these offenses is reflected in the penalty range that's attached to them," Assistant District Attorney Mike Gillett said.

The indictments are Dallas County's first under the product tampering law in at least six years, prosecutors said. The law prohibits altering or adding a foreign substance to any consumer product to make it likely to cause serious bodily injury.

The charges stem from an Oct. 29 incident in which 12 laboratory workers became ill after eating from a tray of muffins and doughnuts in the lab's break room. Five workers were hospitalized with severe diarrhea and abdominal cramps.

One of the leftover muffins was tested and found to have been injected with a bacteria taken from a refrigerated storage cabinet inside the lab.

The bacteria strain, shigella dysenteriae, causes diarrhea and discomfort and can be life-threatening if not diagnosed and treated properly, officials said.

Ms. Thompson had been indicted earlier on charges of tampering with a government record and aggravated assault in connection with an earlier case in which she allegedly altered a boyfriend's hospital lab specimens after planting bacteria in his food. She remains free on $15,000 bond on those charges.

St. Paul spokesman Brian Levinson said Ms. Thompson hasn't worked at the hospital since shortly after the incident.

The tainted food never left the lab workers' lounge area and was not placed where it could have been eaten by hospital patients, he said.