'Angry' Woman Admits Tampering With Kids Vitamins

BOSTON -- A 38-year-old Woburn, Mass., woman could end up in prison and have to face a stiff fine for tampering with children's Flintstone vitamins by filling them with candy, then returning them to a half-dozen stores over the period of about a year.

In a plea deal with the U.S. attorney's office, Denise Shannon, 38, admitted to buying the children's vitamins, filling them with gumballs, red-hot candy, jelly beans and M&Ms, and then returning them to the stores, the Boston Herald reported.

She said she did so because she was "angry" about buying vitamins in 2004 that she thought were tampered with.

Shannon said she bought the vitamins from Target, Star Market, Shaws, Brooks Pharmacy, CVS Pharmacy and Market Basket stores between October 2004 and September 2005.

She said she would bring the bottles home and fill them with candy, replace the lids and put them back in their boxes, re-gluing the boxes. She would then return them to the stores and receive a refund on her credit card, she said.

“The government believes that these were isolated incidents and that there is no evidence that any child was harmed as a result of Shannon’s actions,” Christina DiIorio-Sterling, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, said in a prepared statement.

Shannon was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday on one count of tainting consumer products with intent to cause serious injury to a business. Her plea deal has not been accepted by a judge. If convicted she could to to jail for three years and face a $250,000 fine.