Plant Worker Arrested for Putting Pine-Sol in Coworker’s Drink

He told the authorities that the female coworker had teased him.

A 50-year-old worker at J & A Grinding has confessed to lacing a coworker's drink with a cleaning liquid.

Curtis Malloy was an employee at the industrial tool plant in Delaware when he confessed to adding Pine-Sol to a coworker’s beverage after a nine-month long investigation. He told the authorities that the female coworker had teased him, so he spiked her drink and now he's facing a felony.

According to a report from the Delaware News Journal, Malloy’s coworker alerted police after her beverage smelled like Pine-Sol in April 2019. She believed that Malloy had been tainting her drinks for a while. 

According to court documents, the police sent a sample to the crime lab which found isopropyl alcohol, a chemical found in Pine-Sol. 

In security footage, Malloy was seen at the woman's desk during suspicious times, and in an interview with detectives, he admitted pouring Pine-Sol into his co-workers drink. 

Malloy has since quit J&A, and faces charges of one count of adulteration. Adulteration is typically a Class G felony punishable by up to two years in prison unless it is proven that Malloy caused the coworker physical injury or illness.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time that we've seen a case of workers poisoning coworkers. In March 2019, a 56-year-old employee at ARI Armaturen in Germany received life in prison for sprinkling mercury and cadmium on sandwiches in the break room. And in April, a 32-year-old engineer at Berkeley Engineering and Research in California was arrested for attempted murder for putting cadmium in a coworkers water bottle. 

According to its website, J & A Grinding, based in Newark, Delaware, specializes in industrial tool sharpening and grinding. 

We reached out to J & A, but as of presstime the company has not responded to our request for comment. 

More in Safety