Ex-cook is charged with tainting food
By William Lamb
Of the Post-Dispatch
06/03/2004
A former night-shift cook at the Denny's restaurant on Illinois Route 3 in Waterloo has been charged with aggravated battery after being accused of contaminating food and watching customers eat it, authorities said Thursday.
Police said that Anthony J. Lindhorst, 26, of Waterloo, deliberately contaminated food on at least two occasions by putting his semen into the honey-mustard dressing that the restaurant serves with its chicken strips, said Capt. Suzanne Sweet of the Waterloo police. The incidents occurred in November and April, police said.
On both occasions, Lindhorst targeted "people that he didn't like, for one reason or another," Sweet said. One was a woman in her early 40s. The other victim, Sweet said, was a male police officer in his late 20s who had issued Lindhorst a traffic ticket.
A judge in Monroe County this week found probable cause for Lindhorst to stand trial on four counts of aggravated battery.
Sweet said that Lindhorst worked at the restaurant for about a year until he was fired in April for bringing brownies to work that he had baked with marijuana. Lindhorst served the brownies to two co-workers and that two of the aggravated battery charges stem from that incident, Sweet said.
Waterloo police launched an investigation into the incidents on May 12 after three witnesses came forward with information, Sweet said. Lindhorst was arrested May 17.
Kris Reitz, the Monroe County state's attorney, declined to comment on the case Thursday
Lindhorst, who is out on bond, also could not be reached.
In addition to being unpleasant, Lindhorst's alleged behavior also carries serious health risks, Sweet said. Both victims have undergone blood tests that so far have found no evidence of communicable disease, Sweet said.