Elizabeth Ann Carrier Sentenced To Eight Months In Prison For Making False Reports Of Tainted Consumer Products

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – On Nov. 17, 2014, Elizabeth Ann Carrier, 52, of Johnson City, Tenn., was sentenced to serve eight months in prison by the Honorable J. Ronnie Greer, U.S. District Judge. Upon her release from prison, Carrier will be supervised for three years by the U.S. Probation Office. She was also ordered to complete 150 hours of community service, and pay a $100 special assessment to the United States.

Carrier pleaded guilty in July 2014 to a federal indictment charging her with falsely communicating reports of consumer product tampering. According to public records, Carrier placed telephone calls to the Pepsico Products consumer hotline in June 2013 claiming that an individual related to her by marriage had inserted rat poison in bottled juice drinks manufactured and distributed by Tropicana and Quaker Foods.

U.S. Attorney William C. Killian noted that Carrier was prosecuted under a statute which Congress enacted after the tainted Tylenol poisoning deaths which occurred in Chicago during 1982. "Understandably, Congress became concerned about the intentional tainting of consumer products and false reports of consumer product tampering. Such actions significantly disrupt interstate commerce, threaten public health, undermine public confidence in the safety of our food and drug supplies, and waste private and public resources investigating false reports. Individuals who knowingly make false reports of consumer product tampering should be aware that they are subject to federal prosecution," said Killian.

The indictment and subsequent conviction of Carrier was the result of an investigation conducted by agents with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, assisted by the Sullivan and Carter County Sheriff's offices and Tennessee State Board of Probation and Parole. Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Smith represented the United States.