UHRICHSVILLE, Ohio – A couple is behind bars after they allegedly gave cookies laced with laxatives to striking workers from the Claymont School District in Ohio.
Investigators say 29-year-old Bo Cosens and 25 year-old Rachel Sharrock live near an elementary school in Uhrichsville and were angry at supporters driving by honking. The couple allegedly claimed the noise was disrupting their sleep patterns.
In retaliation, the police say the couple posted Facebook videos threatening the striking school employees and delivered sugar cookies laced with laxatives and to the picket lines.
Striking employees thought the treats were the couple's way of showing support for their cause. Fortunately, no one ate the adulterated cookies and the strikers say they were shocked when they later learned about the laxatives.
"We are a very close community and it's sad to me that somebody would be that angry about something like this, that they try to hurt somebody,” said striking school secretary Shannon Tarbert. “One of our kids could have eaten those cookies and that's what's scary.”
Police arrested Bo Cosens and Rachel Sharrock after an anonymous tipster saw the Facebook videos and became concerned about the threats being made against union members and concerned about the tainted cookies.
Authorities charged the couple with contaminating a substance for human consumption, which is a felony.
"You don't know what kind of reaction somebody is going to have and it's a crime to tamper with food that you're giving to somebody," said Uhrichsville Police Chief Vince Beal. “They should have called the police department with their concerns about the noise and we could have addressed it at that time in a proper way.”
Bo Cosens also faces a charge of aggravated menacing for making threats against the striking employees.
He and Rachel Sharrock are being held in the Tuscarawas County Jail on a bond of $1 million each.
