Dallas: Cabdriver on trial is accused of sprinkling grated feces on grocery store goods
By TIM WYATT / The Dallas Morning News
Testimony began Tuesday in the trial of a cabdriver accused of dusting pastries with his dried, grated feces at a Dallas grocery store last summer.
Behrouz Nahidmobarekeh, 49, faces two felony charges of tampering with consumer products in separate incidents in July at the Fiesta Mart at Ross Avenue and Henderson Street.
In his opening statement Tuesday afternoon, prosecutor Taly Haffar told jurors that the store workers went through seven months of customer complaints that unpackaged, fresh-baked goods “smelled and tasted like manure” until the defendant was arrested in late July.
Mr. Nahidmobarekeh pleaded not guilty in state District Judge Vic Cunningham’s court. His defense attorney, Clark Birdsall, did not give an opening statement.
While a Dallas County epidemiologist testified about the possible health risks to customers who may have eaten the contaminated cookies, pastries and bread, the state’s main evidence so far consisted of two videotapes of incidents on July 13 and July 24.
In those tapes, a man with his back to the camera is shown scattering something over baked goods in the store while other shoppers pass by. No one reacts to the man on the first tape, but employees eventually detect a strong odor coming from a bread bin and begin to clear out the products and begin cleaning up.
A second tape is similar, except that the store’s security manager runs down and detains the man later identified by police as Mr. Nahidmobarekeh. Shortly after the suspect is led away, a young boy reaches up and grabs a cookie from the nearby racks.
“It looked like cracked pepper at the time,” Albert Bazan, a Fiesta employee, testified. “But it had a real strong odor … a foul odor.”
Dallas police reports state that a hazardous-material team collected samples of the contaminated goods and that authorities alerted the FBI’s terrorism task force.
Testimony in the trial resumes today. If convicted, Mr. Nahidmobarekeh could face up to 20 years in prison.
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