VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A Central Florida man was arrested after he was allegedly caught on camera poisoning a co-worker’s Pepsi with bleach.
Deputies responded after getting a 911 call from a Dollar General store in Volusia County on Monday night.
Recommended Videos
A worker told the deputies that he got into an argument with Jerome Ellis, 48, and then went to use the restroom.
When he returned, the victim said he took a sip from his Pepsi and said he believed, “the Pepsi had bleach or cleaning supplies poured into it by the taste and smell it projected.”
He called 911 and then told his manager, who put the Pepsi in a back room for safekeeping,
The victim said he thought Ellis, who is janitor at the store, was the one who tampered with the drink.
Deputies checked store surveillance cameras and said they showed Ellis pour bleach into the Pepsi can, while the victim was in the restroom.
The video then showed the victim take a sip from the can and make a “distraught face that something was wrong with the drink.”
When deputies questioned Ellis, he denied having an argument with the victim and that he accidentally spilled the bleach.
The victim did not require medical treatment.
Ellis was arrested and charged with poisoning food or water and tampering with evidence.
He was booked into the Volusia County jail.