A Phoenix man accused of poisoning food with harmful chemicals will avoid jail time and instead serve probation.
Lohr was accused of tampering with food at Safeway and Walgreens throughout the Phoenix area, including Tempe, Scottsdale, and Chandler, according to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. According to prosecutors, Lohr dumped bleach and hydrogen peroxide on food items.
In the aftermath of his arrest, he traveled to northern California. Lohr was suspected of striking supermarkets across Northern and Southern California. He was seen on surveillance video in stores where bleach mysteriously appeared on ice, food, and drinks in freezer aisles and refrigerators between December 2018 and January 2019, according to the FBI.
Lohr was later arrested by the FBI in northern California in February of 2019. He had spread a white powder and hydrogen peroxide on a public bus; it was later determined that the powder was salt. As a result of his actions up and down California, he was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison last October.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office reported that David Lohr was sentenced in Arizona to serve ten years of supervised probation.
The plea deal included “One count of Criminal Damage, a class 2 felony, and three years probation on two counts of Adding Poison or Other Harmful Substance to Food, Drink, or Medicine, class 6 designated felonies, for his involvement in tampering with food items at multiple retail stores within the Phoenix metropolitan area in October 2018.”
In addition, Lohr is also required to pay Albertsons/Safeway $390.42 as restitution and undergo a mental health evaluation.
Both the FBI and Arizona believe that no injuries resulted from the food tampering.
According to the Arizona prosecutors at the time, “It is believed the tampered food was discovered prior to anyone consuming the items. No individuals have reported any illness associated with the consumption of the tampered items.”