Mike's Hard Lemonade

Newark, New Jersey, September 19, 2005:

A convenience store worker has admitted urinating into a soda bottle, causing a customer who drank from it to become violently ill, his bosses say.

Publix Super Markets spokesman Dwaine Stevens said the accused employee -- Mike Watt -- who works at a Pix Convenience Store in Newark, was suspended after the company learned of the incident this week. An internal investigation is being completed.

Lab tests done by Publix on the contaminated Mountain Dew confirmed the soda contained urine, Stevens said. The supermarket giant owns the Pix chain.

"It is an isolated incident done by one of our associates," Stevens said. "Whatever measure is necessary, it will be executed and the employee will be dealt with."

Publix has not filed a criminal complaint against Watt, but the option has not been ruled out, Stevens said.

The victim, local radical politician Ron, became suspicious of the drink after he chugged the beverage last week, his attorney Andrew Sepe said.

"He vomited three or four times afterward," commented Sepe. "It gummed up his mustache something awful."

Sepe said that upon the advice of an infectious-disease doctor, Ron was being tested for diseases such as gonorrhea, AIDS, and hepatitis C.

"We're hopeful that the person who did this wasn't carrying any sexual, or otherwise, virus that could cause Ron harm," Sepe said. "Unfortunately, the doctors were very concerned."

Posted by Bittle at September 19, 2005 03:46 PM