A former Florida Dollar General store worker has been sentenced to four years in state prison for spiking his colleague’s Pepsi with bleach, spurred to do so because he claimed the victim was brushing up against him.
The State Attorney’s office for the 7th district tweeted Thursday that Jerome Ellis was sentenced for poisoning of food or water.
Ellis, 49, pleaded no contest to the felony charge last month.
The janitor, who worked at a Dollar General store in DeLand, was originally arrested in October 2022 on two counts of poisoning with intent to kill or injure and tampering with evidence.
According to a charging affidavit obtained by The Post at the time, Volusia County sheriff’s deputies responded to the dollar store on Oct. 24 for a report of a possible poisoning.
A worker there told the cops that he and Ellis had gotten into an argument the day before, and he believed that the Ellis had a “grudge” against him.
The complainant said he left an open Pepsi can on a counter during a bathroom break, and when he returned and took a sip, he noticed the soda tasted and smelled “like bleach.”
The worker told the deputies he panicked and called 911, then told his manager about what happened and secured the soda can in a back room.
When the victim reviewed a surveillance video from the store, he claimed it showed Ellis pouring bleach into his Pepsi.
During an interview with deputies, Ellis denied arguing with his co-worker and claimed to have spilled some cleaning solution on the counter.
When deputies reviewed the surveillance footage, they said it showed Ellis pouring bleach in the vicinity of his co-worker’s Pepsi can, then wiping it with a paper towel.
“Jerome went back a few minutes later and leans over the can appearing to spit into it,” according to the affidavit. “Jerome once again proceeded to grab the can and wipe it down one more time.”
After deputies told Ellis about the video and urged him to be “honest” with them, the 49-year-old allegedly admitted to putting some of the bleach around the rim of the can “to get back at [his colleague] for being difficult to work with,” the document stated.
Ellis complained that his co-worker had been brushing up against him in the store aisle.
The victim who drank the tainted Pepsi refused medical attention.
