Man Who Stuck Needles In Store’s Meat Products Claims He ‘Didn’t Want To Hurt Anybody’

A 68-year-old Illinois man arrested for sticking sewing needles in packages of meat at his local grocery store is now claiming that he “didn’t want to hurt anybody.”

Ronald Avers was arrested with seven violations of the Product Packaging Protection Act of 2002 for putting needles in meat at a Shop ‘n Save located in Belleville, Illinois, during a time frame that spanned from May of 2013 to July of 2014.

The Shop ‘n Save contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigations in May of last year with the first complaint about a needle being found in a package of ground beef bought by a customer, and the case was taken by FBI Special Agent Daniel Cook. There was one incident of another customer who bit into a needle placed into a boneless chuck roast. A third customer reported being stuck in the hand by a needle slipped into a steak purchased at the Shop ‘n Save. Over the span of nearly a year, four more incidents of needles being found in meat purchased there were brought to the store’s attention.

According to Special Agent Cook, Avers admitted that he had no real reason for tampering with the meat, saying that he did it “just for the hell of it” and that sticking the needles in the meat was an act “of stupidity.”

Avers was finally caught by the Shop ‘n Save security crew. By using the surveillance camera footage, the security crew concentrated on a man who, riding a motorized scooter, and toting a portable oxygen tank, seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time “manipulating” packages of meat that he never ended up buying. When he was seen entering the store again, still on his motorized scooter, store employees alerted Special Agent Cook.

Cook and his investigators allowed Avers to finish his shopping, waiting until he was outside of the store before approaching him. Avers allowed them to search his truck, and the investigators quickly found an open package of sewing needles in the center console of Aver’s truck. At first, the man insisted that the needles were simply there to mend his torn pants, but he eventually admitted that he had used the needles to stick in meat packages.

He may claim to not want to “hurt anybody,” and luckily, he didn’t. However, he does face a maximum of ten years for each of the seven incidents with which he has been charged.

SuperValu Inc., the company that owns the Shop ‘n Save chain, has been quick to assert that the incidents involving meat tampering were confined to the one location.

[Image via theneeds.com]