Kiel Wisconsin Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Food Tampering

United States Attorney Matthew D. Krueger announced today that Judge Pamela Pepper, sentenced Jonathan Tilman Lane, from Kiel, Wisconsin, to 54 months in federal prison, followed by 3 years of supervised released for tampering with a consumer product in violation of Title 18, United States Code 1365. Lane was also ordered to pay $42,035 in restitution.

According to information released in court on separate occasions in March 2018, Lane, then a contract employee at Johnsonville Sausage, LLC, placed foreign objects into sausage links. Video surveillance determined that Lane placed a cigarette paper on one occasion, and on the second time, he placed a copper wire in a sausage link. Both times, if the items had not been removed, the items would have continued on the processing line thus affecting interstate commerce. Lane was in the final phase of the processing line before packaging and any materials

introduced had a risk of going out to the consumer. Due to the public risk of Lane’s behavior, Johnsonville closed down the operation and discarded all products which they believed could have been affected.

United States Attorney Matthew D. Krueger for the Eastern District of Wisconsin stated, “The significant sentence imposed here shows that any attempt to tamper with consumer products will be taken seriously. We commend Johnsonville Sausage, LLC, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for their effective actions to prevent harm and investigate this matter.”

This case was investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Karine Moreno-Taxman.