Pepsi Probe Reaches Into Brea Market

Federal authorities expanded their investigation of Pepsi-Cola cans to California on Tuesday after four customers reported finding syringes in soft drink cans purchased at markets in Brea, West Hollywood, San Diego and Bakersfield.

The complaints of hypodermic needles in regular and Diet Pepsi containers, which began in the Seattle-Tacoma area last week, have grown to more than a dozen reports across the nation, all widely scattered in states in the South, Midwest and West.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David A. Kessler said Tuesday that the complaints “appear unrelated.” But he warned that once “an initial complaint of tampering receives widespread publicity, there are always subsequent complaints, many of which turn out to be false.”

Late Tuesday, FDA spokesman Jim O’Hara said one person had been arrested in Pennsylvania on federal charges of making a false report of finding a syringe in a Pepsi can. Details were unavailable.

Pepsi-Cola, the PepsiCo Inc. subsidiary that makes soft drinks, bottles its beverages at more than 400 locations. It said there was no evidence the tampering occurred during manufacturing.

“We have yet to confirm that any of these reports concern an unopened container,” said Andrew Giangola, a Pepsi spokesman. “There have been no injuries reported, and there is no health risk to consumers. We see no reason for a product recall and the FDA concurs.”

On Monday night, Judith Ann Barackman, 51, of Anaheim, contacted a Lucky store at 2500 E. Imperial Highway in Brea, reporting that she found the syringe in a 12-ounce can of regular Pepsi she had bought there.

Brea police Lt. Chester Panique said Barackman was not injured. He said police turned the syringe over to the FDA for testing and are holding the Pepsi can in their evidence room.

On Tuesday, the Brea Lucky store removed all cans of regular and Diet Pepsi from its shelves, said Judy Decker, a spokeswoman for Lucky Stores Inc.

“The customer reported it at the store and the store personnel contacted the Brea police,” Decker said. “What we have done is pull that particular product from store shelves while the investigation is ongoing.”

Barackman, contacted at her home, refused to give any details of the incident.

“All I want you to print is that I still drink Pepsi and I’m still a customer of Lucky,” she said.

But her husband, Doug Barackman, said that he and his wife reported the incident to the grocery store because they feared other customers may be injured.

“My main concern was that she didn’t have any toxic substance in her or any AIDS virus,” he said. “That was my only concern. It was not to get rich off of Pepsi-Cola or Lucky stores or to get publicity. We wanted to make sure no kid would swallow it or get stuck by it. We did what we thought was right.”

Barackman said he bought a six-pack of Pepsi for his wife Monday. He said that apparently only one can contained a syringe.

“Last evening, around 6 o’clock, my wife drank a Pepsi-Cola and when she finished it, she stated to me, ‘There’s something in the can,’ ” he said Tuesday. “At that time, I turned it over and saw a bunch of numbers on something that was round like a syringe. I called Lucky stores and the manager asked me to bring the can down, which I did.”

He said the object didn’t come out when he turned the can over. “It looked like opaque white plastic. It had number bars on it,” he said, adding that there are no syringes kept in his house.

The Barackmans said they plan no legal action against Pepsi or Lucky. “That’s ridiculous,” Doug Barackman said. “We hold no animosity toward Pepsi-Cola. We’re not going to sue them.”

At a West Hollywood meeting Tuesday night to finalize plans for a forthcoming gay pride parade, a syringe was pulled from a can of Diet Pepsi by a member of the parade’s planning committee, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

James Russell, 30, told sheriff’s deputies that he had bought the can at the 7-Eleven next door to the offices where the group was meeting, in the 7900 block of Santa Monica Boulevard. He said he arrived at the parade meeting with the can unopened.

Sheriff’s Lt. Roberta Caples said Russell was uninjured, and didn’t drink from the can, which was placed along with the syringe into evidence.

Meanwhile, in Bakersfield, a customer of another Lucky store on Monday night reported finding a syringe in a can of regular Pepsi, Decker said.

Pepsi spokesman Jeff Brown said another syringe incident was reported Tuesday regarding a can bought at an undisclosed store in San Diego, but that details were unavailable. A watch commander for the San Diego Police Department said Tuesday night that he was unaware of any such report.

A similar alleged incident was reported by a woman in Van Nuys, who told police on Monday that she was jabbed in the mouth by a needle in a Diet Coke can. But Los Angeles police detectives said they believe that one was a hoax, because the woman has filed reports with police on other matters, including one that was false.

Decker said Lucky Stores is “not in the position to judge” whether the Brea, Bakersfield reports are genuine. “The FBI and Brea police and the FDA are investigating.”

Kessler of the FDA said in a statement Tuesday that “no contamination” was found in the needles and syringes reportedly found in the Seattle area.

Similar tests at the FDA’s forensic laboratory are being conducted on the syringes found in California.

The FDA was looking into complaints involving Pepsi cans and bottles in nine states. It refused to identify the states, but complaints are known to have been filed in California, Washington State, Louisiana, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois and Wyoming.

Consumers who discover objects in Pepsi are asked to contact an FDA office or call the Pepsi Consumer Hot Line at (800) 433-2652.

Times staff writer Nieson Himmel contributed to this story.