Shopper Ingested Semen-Tainted Yogurt Sample

FEBRUARY 7--Confirming the suspicions of a New Mexico woman, a yogurt sample provided to her last month by a grocery clerk contained semen, according to test results that prompted police to secure a search warrant authorizing them to collect blood and DNA samples from the suspect.

The disclosure that the yogurt sample from an Albuquerque market tested positive for “sperm cells” and saliva is contained in a search warrant affidavit seeking blood and DNA samples from Anthony Garcia, the 31-year-old suspect.

The January 28 warrant, which was approved by a District Court judge, notes that the samples were needed to “make sure Mr. Garcia does not have any illness or disease that could harm” the victim, whose name TSG has redacted from court documents due to the nature of the incident.

When police arrived to investigate the January 25 incident at the Sunflower Farmers Market, they arrested Garcia after determining he was the subject of two outstanding warrants connected to a 2009 bust for criminal sexual contact with a minor. Garcia is pictured in the above mug shot.

According to a police report, the 28-year-old victim was shopping with her daughter in the store’s cereal aisle when she was approached by Garcia, who worked in the store’s dairy department. After accepting Garcia’s offer of a yogurt sample, the woman immediately thought the sample tasted “gross and disgusting” and, cops reported, “said it tasted like ‘semen.’”

In a handwritten statement, the woman said, “I spit it out on the floor many times cuz I was upset.” The woman recalled that when she talked to manager Catherine Flores, “she told me was a Greek yoghurt. People love it has lot of protein on it.”

The woman paid for her groceries and returned home, where she told her boyfriend about the incident. She told of how Garcia had “just come with one sample just for me,” and that “he was so pushy to tell me how taste it.” The woman and her boyfriend eventually returned to the market, where they summoned police.

When questioned by cops, an “extremely nervous” Garcia denied putting bodily fluids in the yogurt container, which he admitted discarding in a trash compactor after the woman complained about the sample’s taste.

An Albuquerque Police Department spokesperson said today that blood and DNA samples have been collected from the incarcerated Garcia, and that results from lab tests are expected later this week. (8 pages)