YouTube hoaxer pleads guilty

19 Dec 2008

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A New York man on Thursday admitted he repeatedly posted videos of himself on YouTube claiming he caused millions of jars of baby food to be poisoned.

Anton Dunn, calling himself "Trashman," posted a video of himself on in April claiming to have "disciples" working for the company who spiked Gerber baby food with cyanide and rat poison. In the video, entitled "gerbersbabyfoodalert," Dunn wore a black ski mask and said it was "too late" to do anything about the poisoned food because it had already shipped to consumers.

Dunn uploaded two follow-up videos to YouTube in July. In the third film, he claimed four babies had already died from the tampered food, according to court documents.

The videos apparently panicked a good number of parents, who then flooded Gerber's phone lines alerting the company to the videos and expressed no small amount of concern over the claims.

An agent from the Federal Food and Drug Administration identified the film maker from a Hotmail address associated with two websites registered by Dunn. The IP address used to upload one of the videos also led to Dunn.

Gerber said it found no evidence its baby food had been tampered with as described by Dunn. The FDA also received no reports of infant deaths or injuries that would suggest his claims were true.

Dunn pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting threats in interstate commerce. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000; or twice the loss Gerber can prove resulted from the offense.

Dunn is scheduled to be sentenced on March 20.

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