Former Container Company Employee Found Guilty Of Tampering With Consumer Products Sentenced To 60 Months

Employee placed small pieces of broken glass into foam cups destined for distribution centers and restaurants

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – United States District Judge Greg N. Stivers sentenced Waylon J. Horton, a former employee of a container manufacturing plant located in Hart County, Kentucky, to 60 months imprisonment followed by 2 years of supervised release, for tampering with consumer products, announced United States Attorney Russell M. Coleman.

“Mr. Horton did real harm, placing both families and a major local employer at risk,” stated U.S. Attorney Russell M. Coleman, “And for that, federal prison time is just punishment.”

In 2016, Horton, now age 44, worked on printers on production lines for Styrofoam drinking cups at the container manufacturing plant in Horse Cave, Kentucky.  On two separate dates in July 2016 Horton, with reckless disregard for the risk of death or bodily injury it might cause, placed pieces of broken glass into Styrofoam drinking cups that were then shipped to fast food restaurants.  Glass pieces were subsequently found in cups at three different restaurants in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. After receiving complaints, the container manufacturing plant put the distribution of Styrofoam cups that were produced in its facility on hold and seven additional boxes containing Styrofoam cups with broken glass were ultimately found.

Horton pleaded guilty to tampering with consumer products on July 13, 2018.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Amanda Gregory and Marisa Ford, and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Hart County Sheriff’s Office.