A Cedar Rapids man who made a false claim about his former company will serve five years in federal prison. Forty-year-old Luke Truesdell pled guilty in February to one count of communicating false information that a consumer product had been tainted and one count of making a false report to the FDA.
Truesdell admitted that he was fired from his job in Linn County on January 26th of 2012. He then admitted to calling the FDA and telling them he was a Hepatitis B carrier and falsely claimed he had bled into a product manufactured by the former employer.
He also admitted to posting the false information on the Facebook page of one of the customers of his former employer. A judge sentenced Truesdell to five years in prison and ordered him to pay nearly $18,000 in restitution.
The judge noted that this type of criminal activity “can result in consumer fear and panic.”