An ex-Dollar General worker from Florida, Jerome Ellis, has been sentenced to four years behind bars after putting bleach in a fellow staffer’s Pepsi. According to the New York Post, he did it because he said the victim

“was brushing up against him.” 

Ellis, an ex-janitor for the store, was initially apprehended back in October 2022 on

“two counts of poisoning with intent to kill or injure and tampering with evidence.”

The charging affidavit said that Volusia County sheriff’s deputies went to the store on Oct. 24 on a notice about a potential poisoning. A staffer informed officials that he and Ellis got into a verbal confrontation the day prior and he believed that Ellis was holding a

“grudge”

against him. 

According to the complaint, the unidentified staffer left an open Pepsi can on top of the counter amid a bathroom break, and when he returned to drink his Pepsi, it

“smelled like bleach.”

The staff member informed officials that he became scared and called 911. He later told his manager what occurred. When surveillance footage from the store was viewed by the victim, he declared that it showcased Ellis pouring bleach into his drink. Ellis later denied getting into a verbal disagreement with his co-worker and confessed to spilling cleaning products on the counter. 

When officials reviewed the footage, they said that it showed Ellis pouring bleach within the area of the Pepsi can, then dabbing it with a paper towel. The affidavit said,

“Jerome went back a few minutes later and leans over the can appearing to spit into it… Jerome once again proceeded to grab the can and wipe it down one more time.”

Officials later told Ellis about the footage and he then confessed to putting bleach around the rim of the can

“to get back at [his colleague] for being difficult to work with,” the document stated.” 

The victim refused to get medical assistance after drinking the contaminated Pepsi.