Felony Charge Sticks In Glue Contamination
Wisconsinite adulterated female co-worker's Coke
AUGUST 13--A Wisconsin man yesterday pleaded guilty to contaminating a female co-worker’s Coca-Cola with drops of Gorilla Super Glue, a crime that was caught on video after the victim hid a surveillance camera under her desk.
During a Circuit Court hearing, Joseph Ralph Ross, 35, copped to a felony charge of placing foreign objects in edibles. The Milwaukee resident, whose admission came after plea negotiations with prosecutors, is scheduled to be sentenced on October 9.
Ross and the 36-year-old victim shared an office at the Wisconsin Exposition Center, a state-owned exhibit 
hall in West Allis, a Milwaukee suburb.
As detailed in a criminal complaint, the woman told police that she “suspected the beverages on her desk had been contaminated by a chemical substance” earlier this year. The victim reported becoming ill after consuming the adulterated liquid, which she described as having a “strong chemical smell and taste.”
“Due to past events,” investigators noted, on March 20 the woman hid a camera “below her computer monitor to see if anyone was putting substances into her beverage.” Within 30 minutes, the camera recorded Ross, wearing latex gloves, squeezing Gorilla Glue into the victim’s can of Coca-Cola (as seen above).
When subsequently confronted by cops, Ross--who was unaware of the hidden camera--claimed only to have placed “a supplement” in the victim’s Coke.
A police search of a trash container near Ross’s office yielded the protective gloves, which were wadded up into a ball with the glue bottle and its cap inside the gloves.
As part of his plea to the felony charge, Ross “may never own or possess a firearm” and will be unable to vote “until his civil rights have been restored,” according to a court order. (3 pages)
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