A man who put soapy water in beer products which were returned to stores after he received refunds was sentenced Oct. 7 to 150 days in jail and ordered to pay $60,911 in restitution.
Eduardo DeJesus Cossio III, 32, was remanded to jail after he was placed on three years probation and ordered to pay investigative costs to a beer company and stores by San Diego Superior Court Judge Dan Link.
“He was really trying to get free beer,” said his attorney, Daniel Greene. “He was down on his luck. He didn’t think it through.”
“He wasn’t trying to harm individual citizens. He thought the beer would not be re-sold,” said Greene, who added that his client thought it would be returned to the manufacturer.
Cossio, of Logan Heights, bought 13 packages of beer bottles at Walmart stores in Chula Vista, National City and Target stores in Eastlake and El Cajon in 2014 and 2015. He drank the beer, and then put soapy water, food coloring, and/or cleaning solutions in the bottles before gluing the caps back on.
He got refunds and the products were placed back on the shelves. Other people bought them and took one or two sips before realizing they were tampered with. One man went to an emergency room to see if he was poisoned, but no one was actually injured, according to attorneys. One man told an official the beverage tasted like someone else’s “bad mouth water.”
“Food tampering is very serious,” said Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth McClutchey, who asked for 365 days in jail.
McClutchey said a beer manufacturer spent $59, 603 in investigative costs as it was initially believed to be possibly a broad product tampering case. She said Cossio went to great lengths to make it look like the returned bottles resembled beer.
Target employees identified Cossio as he wore a distinctive set of earrings, beard and hair style in store security tapes. He filled out the refund records with his correct name, date of birth and driver’s license number.
Link ordered him to stay 500 feet away from all Target and Walmart stores and to pay probation costs of $1,433. He was fined $1,484. Link suspended 215 days of jail time which Cossio may have to serve if he violates probation terms.
Link specified that he must serve 30 days in jail, but can be screened for housing in a work furlough project for 120 days. If Cossio is allowed to go to his auto technician job during the day, he would be locked up at night and on weekends.
Cossio apologized to all the victims. “I didn’t think it would lead to all this,” he said.
His girlfriend and her mother attended the sentencing.
Most liquor stores do not give refunds when someone tries to return alcohol products. The attorneys said Walmart and Target gave refunds because they were department stores and wanted to please customers.
Charges involving 29 similar counts were dismissed after he pleaded guilty to three counts of adulteration of a food product. He could have received a maximum term of four years and four months in prison. He got credit for one day previously spent in jail before he posted $10,000 bond.
