A man has been arrested after being caught allegedly caught pouring chemicals onto items at several grocery stores, according to the FBI.

David Clare Lohr, a 48-year-old homeless man, was taken into custody last Wednesday in northern California by the FBI, after being caught on surveillance pouring bleach onto several food and drink items in at least three grocery stores located around southern California.

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"To date, there have been no known reports of individuals sickened by Lohr’s actions; however, further investigation has determined that Lohr has done this in a variety of stores, and the extent of his actions are currently under investigation," said the FBI, in a statement made after Lohr's arrest.

According to the FBI, Lohr was captured on camera picking up a container of bleach in a grocery store located on Manhattan Beach back on December 14. Scarcely more than a minute later, Lohr was pictured pouring a container of said bleach into a refrigerator containing beer, before putting the container down and walking out without paying for anything.

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The FBI said he was then recorded repeating the trick on December 16 in nearby Redondo Beach, and on this occasion, two customers complained about the bleach. One customer was unhappy with the smell, while another arrived with her son, concerned that the chemicals had stained the boy's T-shirt.

The FBI say that an employee then went to investigate, finding a small bottle of bleach and briefly getting overwhelmed by the fumes. He also felt the tingle of bleach when picking up other bags, the FBI reported, adding that 20 bags of ice had to be thrown out as a result.

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Lohr remained at large after the New Year, with a West Hollywood grocery store also picking up footage of the 48-year-old tampering with frozen shrimp. However, Lohr was arrested February 6 after police responded to a report that he was pouring hydrogen peroxide and salt at a bus stop.

Authorities say that Lohr also did the same to rotisserie chickens at a nearby market in Sunnyvale, but the FBI are still in the process of investigating just how many locations Lohr had actually attacked with chemicals.

It then emerged that this wasn't the first time that Lohr had been attacking stores with potentially dangerous chemicals - he was arrested for a similar offence back in October, when Lohr was taken into custody in the neighbouring state of Arizona.

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Lohr was caught by grocery store employees pouring chemicals on food items (including frozen pizzas, ice cream and fresh beef) at a Target located in Ahwatukee Foothills, with police saying he may have carried out similar acts on other stores in the area.

Booked into Maricopa County jail and held on a $10,000 bond, Lohr initially confessed that he poured peroxide on food items, but told a Superior Court judge: "I'm not guilty". It was believed that Lohr had been staying in a hotel, having recently arrived in Arizona, and in subsequent interviews, Lohr explained his reasoning behind the bleachings: he said he was removing "invisible chemicals" from the food items.

"Because stores security is using invisible chemicals. It was one bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide. It was off their shelf from the Target. It makes the chemicals go away. I put it in the bottom of the cooler, so it was not in the food. It was not on top of the food in any way, so it had no contact with any food."

After his most recent arrest, Lohr was charged with tampering, as well as attempted tampering with consumer products.

A medical examiner has confirmed that a man who took his own life in court last year had ingested a lethal amount of sodium nitrite.

Edward Leclair had been on trial in Texas on August 11, 2022, over five counts of sexual assault against a child. As the judge was reading the guilty verdict, however, the 57-year-old had swallowed the contents of a water bottle containing a cloudy liquid. He collapsed in his cell and passed away shortly after.

This week, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office revealed (via The Daily Mail) that Leclair's death had been ruled a suicide, and that the liquid in the bottle was found to contain sodium nitrite.

The convicted pedophile's cause of death was declared to be related to the effects of the lethal concoction.

Sodium nitrite can limit oxygen delivery and transport in the body. Credit: chadchai krisadapong / Alamy

The National Library of Medicine has detailed that sodium nitrate is an odorless powder often used to treat metals as well as in the preservation of meats. When in the human body it can limit oxygen delivery and transport - ingesting it can often cause hypoxia (low levels of oxygen in the body), altered states of consciousness, cyanosis (poor circulation), and death.

Leclair - who had worked as a corporate recruiter before losing his job during the pandemic - had been found guilty on five counts of child sexual assault against one victim - a young girl that he'd raped five times from 2016 to 2018. She was aged between 13 and 17 at the time.

Upon hearing that he'd been found guilty on the first count, Leclair reportedly downed the liquid containing sodium nitrite. Soon afterward he was escorted back to his cell, The New York Post detailed.  "As these verdicts were being read, he chugged a bottle of water he had at counsel table," Denton County Assistant District Attorney Jamie Beck told CNN at the time of Leclair's suicide.

"Our investigator noticed him chug the water," he added, saying that the liquid had looked cloudy. "He told the bailiff he might want to go check on him. The bailiff did. He was unconscious in the holding cell [...] Shortly after entering the holdover cell, he started vomiting, and emergency services were called."

Credit: FriscoTexas.gov

CCTV footage from inside the Denton County Court shows Leclair purchasing a bottle of water from a vending machine outside court at 07:00 AM on the day of his hearing, The New York Times reported.

Prosecutors on the case believe that Leclair had put the toxic powder in his water bottle while the jury deliberated for three and a half hours.

His lawyer Mike Howard had told the Times that his client was facing 100 years in prison and had made a last-minute decision to die by suicide when he realized the severity of his crimes.

"I think he made the decision to do what he did at the last moment [...] Had he waited another 30 seconds, he would have been in sheriff's custody and not had access to that bottled water. He wouldn’t have been able to. So, you know, I think he knew," Howard explained.

Featured image credit: Mark Strozier / Alamy

A woman who confessed to poisoning her husband after she was caught on camera pouring bleach into his coffee has reportedly avoided jail time.Melody Felicano Johnson, 40, from Arizona, last month pleaded guilty to two counts of poisoning food or drink for putting trace amounts of bleach into husband Roby Johnson’s coffee maker on July 11 and July 18, 2023, according to Arizona’s 13 News.Roby, who is in the Air Force, became suspicious after noticing his coffee had a strange taste while he and his family were stationed in Germany in March 2023.He drank the coffee for two or three weeks before buying pool testing strips and finding that there was high levels of chlorine in his coffee, but not in the tap water.Melody Felicano Johnson was accused of poisoning her husband. Credit: Pima County Sheriff's Office Roby revealed that Melody knew he would prepare his coffee pot the night before so that it was ready for him to just press a button and make himself a coffee first thing in the morning.He continued to pretend to drink the poisoned coffee while they remained in Germany, and waited until he and Melody - who share a child and were going through a divorce at the time - returned to Arizona before alerting authorities.Court documents state that he did not want to report his findings in Europe, and instead set up camera in their temporary housing near Davis Monthan Air Force Base when they returned to the US in June to catch Melody in the act.On July 6, he filed a report with the Tucson Police Department, sharing footage of Melody pouring a liquid into the pot, but they did not follow up because it could not be clearly seen what the liquid she was pouring into his drink was.Roby then set up a second camera disguised as a fire alarm, returning to share the footage it captured with police on July 18, allegedly showing Melody pouring bleach into the coffee machine before brewing.Melody was then arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and adding harmful substances to food, drink or medicine, but later agreed to a plea deal instead. According to reports, she was handed a probation sentence that includes mandatory mental health treatment that goes into effect immediately, and is not allowed to have contact with her husband without a legal team.Roby told the court he believed Melody was trying to kill him to collect death benefits, according to court documents. Featured image credit: SimpleImages/Getty Images

A man from Florida has been arrested after he allegedly drew a firearm in a Starbucks when the bagel he ordered came without cream cheese.

Per CBS 4 News Miami, four-year police chief Delma Noel-Pratt claims that her 23-year-old barista daughter was left terrified after 38-year-old Omar Wright brandished a gun.

Take a look at this news report on the felony in the video below:

Noell-Pratt claims Wright threatened her daughter while visiting a local branch of the popular coffee outlet, situated on Northwest 27th Avenue, at 184th Street in Miami Gardens last week.

Wright allegedly became enraged when he was presented with his order, walked over to the drive-through window, and began using loud profanity despite repeated requests by Starbucks staff for him to lower his voice and calm down.

The barista stated that, although Wright did not point the weapon directly at her, she felt he would harm her. After he was given his cheese, Wright immediately drove off.

Commenting on Wright's alleged crime in an interview with CBS 4, Noel-Pratt stated: "One thing is that he was unstable and unreasonable. He has no balance of what should occur and was upset about something and took it to a new level."

She added that her daughter will be receiving counseling over the incident, stating:

"We are seeing that across the country a lot of people are not able to deal with their problems and they are taking it to another level where they’re going to be getting a firearm and taking it into their own hands.

"It's important that if you see something say something. Don't take matters into your own hands. If you are angry about something there are other measures you can take."

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Per the above publication, police apprehended Wright after investigators checked images on the cafe's surveillance cameras and were provided with a partial license tag description from a Starbucks employee.

Upon arrest, Wright was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, and also armed robbery - a charge which was dropped by Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer after his lawyer objected to it in bond court.

Court records show that Wright was previously arrested back in 2009 for carrying a concealed weapon.

Featured Image Credit: MShieldsPhotos / Alamy

A Texas man convicted of child sexual assault has died after drinking from a bottle as his verdict was read in court.

As reported by NBC News, 57-year-old Edward Leclair started drinking what has been described as a clear liquid from a bottle after being convicted by a jury.

The incident took place on Thursday afternoon (August 11) at the 16th District Court of Denton County in Texas.

Leclair's lawyer, Mike Howard, has recalled the moment his client started chugging the fluid after the jury announced its verdict following over three hours of deliberation.

"I looked over and noticed him drinking," the lawyer said. "His hand was shaking. At the time, I thought it was shaking because of the verdict. Then he kept drinking and drinking."

Leclair, a former Navy mechanic, was facing 100 years in prison for his crimes, which included five counts of sexual assault on a person between the age of 14 and 17.

Credit: Frisco Police Department

Howard has informed the court that his client maintained he was innocent of all allegations.

Assistant District Attorney Jamie Beck has described the liquid in Leclair's plastic water bottle as "cloudy" to the Denton Record-Chronicle, but it has not yet been confirmed what the man had consumed.

Regarding Leclair's possible sentence, Howard said: "With charges like these, if they find a defendant guilty a very stiff punishment is certainly possible."

After consuming the liquid, Leclair was transported to a holdover cell to await sentencing.

Howard says he was able to talk to Leclair briefly in the cell, and described his client as "dejected and in shell shock".

Upon returning to the courtroom after a short period, Leclair started to vomit.

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Court proceedings were stopped and the jury was sent home. Beck tells CNN that "medical intervention" occurred in the courtroom, before Leclair was transported to a nearby hospital.

His lawyer says: "Forty-five minutes after the whole thing began, I was notified by the hospital that he'd been declared dead." Howard adds that he never saw his client put anything suspicious in his bottle, adding: "We weren't looking for that. Frankly, no one was looking for that."

NBC News states that the jury was informed of Leclair's passing on Friday (August 12) and informed that his death was not their fault.

Leclair's cause of death is set to be determined by the Tarrant County medical examiner's office.

Featured image credit: Rawf8 / Alamy