British man sentenced to 5 years in jail for threatening to taint baby food in stores

A British national who threatened to put tainted baby food in the stores of a California supermarket chain was sentenced Friday to five years behind bars.

David Dickinson, living in Los Angeles, tried to extort 180,000 US dollars from Ralphs Grocery Co. by threatening to put tempered baby food in its stores in 2004.

US District Judge Dean Pregerson, calling it a "villainous act, " ordered Dickinson to serve two more years in federal prison than prosecutors had recommended in a plea bargain.

"I think it's a villainous act, a close cousin to terrorism," the judge told the 43-year-old defendant, a onetime smog check station employee who was living in a Los Angeles apartment at the time of his arrest last year.

"You acted to threaten the food supply of many, many people, and you created, I am sure, a level of genuine panic among the people at Ralphs," he said.

The judge described the plan -- in which a box of contaminated food was mailed to the Ralphs Grocery Co. corporate office, followed by a letter demanding 180,000 US dollars -- as sophisticated.

Dickinson admitted sending the contaminated items -- a jar of Gerber carrots that contained glass splinters, a can of baby orange juice that was 50 percent hydraulic fluid, and a can of Similac infant formula and a jar of horseradish, both containing boric acid-- to Ralphs' corporate office in Compton in February 2004.

Assistant US Attorney Beverly Reid-O'Connell said Dickinson's threats caused the FBI and Ralphs security to devote numerous hours to the case, including reviewing security footage to ensure that no one had actually placed any items on store shelves and time spent performing a check of items already stocked.

Dickinson pleaded guilty to interfering with commerce by extortion and threatening to tamper with consumer products.