Cedar Rapids Man Charged With Falsely Claiming A consumer Product Was Contaminated
Contact: Peter Deegan
Luke A. Truesdell, age 39, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been charged with four counts of communicating false information that a consumer product was tainted and three counts of making false statements. The charges are contained in an Indictment unsealed today in United States District Court in Cedar Rapids.
The Indictment alleges that, between about January 26 and February 8, 2012, Truesdell falsely told U.S. Food and Drug Administration personnel that a Hepatitis B carrier had bled into batches of a consumer product manufactured and distributed by Truesdell’s former employer in Linn County, Iowa. The Indictment also alleges Truesdell made the same false claim in a January 27, 2012, Facebook posting.
If convicted on all charges, Truesdell faces a possible maximum sentence of thirty-five years’ imprisonment, a $1,750,000 fine, $700 in special assessments, and 21 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
Truesdell appeared today in federal court in Cedar Rapids and was released on bond. Truesdell’s next appearance for trial is set for November 26, 2012.
As with any criminal case, a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Peter Deegan and was investigated by the United States Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 12-8.
