A New York man who posted videos on YouTube claiming he had persuaded others to poison millions of bottles of Gerber baby food, with the intent to kill babies was arrested on Thursday, federal prosecutors said.
Anton Dunn, 42, calling himself “Trashman,” anonymously posted a series of videos of himself titled “gerbersbabyfoodalert” on YouTube. In one of the videos Dunn wears a black mask and says that Gerber employees acting at his direction have poisoned millions of bottles of Gerber baby food.
Dunn says that it is “too late” to do anything about the poisoned baby food because it has already shipped to consumers.
In another video on YouTube, Dunn claims that people acting at his direction have poisoned 5000 bottle of Gerber baby food with cyanide. In the video Dunn says the baby food was poisoned with the intent to kill black babies, but that white babies are also likely to die from the poisoning.
He goes on to say that he will “never be caught” and that attempts to trace his IP address will be useless, and that there is no point in contacting the FBI to arrest him.
Dunn, a resident of Manhattan is charged with one count of sending threats in interstate commerce and one count of falsely claiming to have tampered with a consumer product. Dunn faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
Gerber has not found any evidence that its product has been tampered with. A spokesman for Gerber said its products are safe.
“We are aware of a recent posting on the Internet and believe this is a malicious hoax,” said David Mortazavi. “The safety of Gerber and Nestle Nutrition products is our top priority. We are taking this issue seriously, and are cooperating fully with federal authorities.”
