Ga. father gets 100 years for poisoning kids' soup

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20090522/us-tampered-soup-children/

Ga. father gets 100 years for poisoning kids' soup

May 22, 2009 04:46 PM EST | AP


JONESBORO, Ga. — A Georgia man was sentenced to 100 years in prison for poisoning his two children to extort money from Campbell Soup Co.

William Cunningham was sentenced Thursday after a jury found him guilty of seven counts of aggravated assault.

Cunningham was indicted in July 2006 on tampering and fraud charges in federal court and was also charged with child cruelty in Clayton County. The girl and boy, then 18 months old and 3 years old, were hospitalized after Cunningham fed them soup tainted with prescription drugs and lighter fluid.

On one occasion, authorities said he used the prescription drugs Prozac and Amitriptyline _ both used to treat depression _ to poison the children.

Cunningham was arrested in March 2006. According to prosecutors, the former dump truck driver called Campbell in January 2006 and threatened to sue the company because its soup was contaminated.

Authorities said there was no evidence the soup was tainted when it was purchased. A family member said the youngsters may suffer lifelong respiratory problems after swallowing the poisoned soup.

The children's mother, Rhonda Cunningham, filed for divorce during the case.

[joeybee12]

1. I bet this guy's congressional rep is Buron, the guy who wants 2009 the Year of the Bible...

...disgusting.

[foo_bar]

4. I think that's 2010, retroactive Bible Year doesn't sell Bibles

[joeybee12]

11. Oh yeah...but since there's no such thing as evolution, then there's no such

thing as change, which means time can't move forward, so...

[Enrique]

2. Good move by Rhonda

"The children's mother, Rhonda Cunningham, filed for divorce during the case."

:thumbsup:

[Echo In Light]

3. "I see dumb people." n/t

[jgraz]

5. I just thank Jeezus those children weren't being raised by a gay couple

:eyes:

[mitchum]

6. Evil and stupid is rarely a winning combination

[foo_bar]

8. I'm starting to think evil = stupid

Take Hitler: very evil, very stupid, achieved fame as the equivalent of a soccer hooligan in 1923 (imagine if the treaty of Versailles imposed baseball teams) (no designated hitters in the Prussian League). Dick Cheney, has he ever read a book? Besides "How to Shoot Friends & Influence People"?

[mitchum]

9. I think it breaks down into smart, cunning, and stupid...

and evil is usually found with cunning or stupid

[foo_bar]

10. I'm not sure cunning and stupid are mutually exclusive either

The cliche that comes to mind is "penny wise/pound foolish", like getting involved in Asian land wars and commanding loyalty from a bunker. But maybe I'm taking Hanlon's razor too far.

[glitch]

12. It can bring home lots of loot

but you have to be a member of the Bush family.

[lpbk2713]

7. I've got a feeling ...

... that he'd better be checking his prison food real close for the next several years.