Threats Get Man 5 Years

A Venice man who tried to extort $180,000 from the Ralphs supermarket chain last year by threatening to plant contaminated food products on store shelves was sentenced Friday to five years in federal prison.

To convince Ralphs executives that he was serious, David Ian Dickinson sent the company a package containing a jar of baby food laced with glass shards, a bottle of orange juice mixed with hydraulic fluid and a container of baby formula and a jar of horseradish sauce, both adulterated with boric acid.

Dickinson, a 44-year-old British national, demanded payment of the ransom through an elaborate scheme that involved the issuance of 9,000 identical ATM debit cards to Ralphs customers in West Los Angeles, San Diego and San Ramon, Calif. -- including Dickinson. But none could be used to obtain cash at an ATM machine without a personal identification number.

At the same time, he instructed Ralphs to place a newspaper classified ad for a tuba that also contained the PIN number that would give him ATM access to the $180,000 ransom.

Investigators determined that the package had been mailed with $1 stamps from a post office in Venice in late February 2004. Reviewing post office videotapes, they spotted a man buying $1 stamps about the time the package was sent.

About a month later, Dickinson was observed accepting one of the ATM cards at a Ralphs market in West Los Angeles. After keeping him under surveillance while gathering evidence, authorities arrested him a month later. Dickinson subsequently pleaded guilty.

On Friday, he told U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson that he never intended to place contaminated food on supermarket shelves. He said he was distraught at the time because his wife was seriously ill and he was exhausted after caring for their newborn baby. He said he intended to use the ransom money to provide for his child’s education.

Under nonbinding federal sentencing guidelines, Dickinson faced a 33- to 41-month prison sentence. But Pregerson sentenced him to 60 months behind bars, saying his ransom demand reflected a sophisticated, well-thought-out plan that caused panic at Ralphs headquarters and was “a close cousin to terrorism.”

Pregerson said he hoped that the stiffer sentence would send a message to anyone else who might be tempted to copy him.