27-Yr. Term for Drug Tampering

The first person to face federal charges of product tampering was sentenced to 27 years in prison today for lacing drug capsules with rat poison in a scheme to manipulate stock prices and profit from public hysteria.

Edward Arlen Marks, 25, an unemployed stockbroker who last lived in Temple City, Calif., cried and pleaded for a lenient sentence. He had faced a maximum 54 years in prison and fines of up to $2.25 million. No one was injured in the March tampering of SmithKline Beckman products Contac, Teldrin and Dietac in Houston and Orlando.