Teen Accused of Spiking Girl’s Pie With Laxative

A Van Nuys High School senior was suspended Friday for five days and faces expulsion for allegedly giving two female students a pie that may have been tainted with a laxative, school authorities said.

The male student, whose name was not released because he is a minor, was arrested earlier this week but no charges will be filed against him, said Los Angeles Unified School District officials.

The student last week offered to bake a pie for a female classmate who had allegedly rejected his repeated romantic overtures, said Assistant Chief Richard Page of the Los Angeles school police. The next day, he gave the girl a lemon meringue pie during a midmorning break, which she later shared with a friend.

Within hours, the two girls complained of dizziness and cramps. “The girls thought they had flu symptoms,” said Van Nuys Principal Russ Thompson.

Laura Beck, the mother of the girl who received the pie, said her daughter was able to join her varsity cheerleading team that night at a football game. But over the weekend, the girl complained of cramps and diarrhea, Beck said.

Beck said other students had told her daughter that a boy was bragging about tainting the pie. On Wednesday, her parents called school officials and police.

By the end of school Wednesday, the boy was arrested and later released. Thompson said the arrest was prompted by the parents’ desire to press charges.

“This is something that involves physical injury, and every time there’s something like this the parents have a right to press charges,” he explained. “Even though it’s a prank, we don’t know for sure there was Ex-Lax in that pie.”

Thompson said the pies were never tested, but an investigation by school police showed that a laxative may have been added. He would not say if the student admitted to lacing the pie.

Page said pranks that involve tainting food are uncommon at Los Angeles city schools. “I can’t recall in my entire career [of 30 years] of somebody tainting something,” he said.