Man Who Hid Razor Blades In Pizza Dough After Getting Fired Pleads Guilty

A Maine man accused of putting razor blades and metal fragments in pizza dough sold at a local grocery store has pleaded guilty.

On Thursday, Nicholas R. Mitchell, 39, pleaded guilty to one out of two federal counts of tampering with a consumer product. The second charge was dropped after he entered a guilty plea, reported Associated Press. Mitchell will accept a sentence of up to four years and nine months in prison.

He was arrested in October last year after customers found razor blades in dough purchased from a Hannaford supermarket in Saco.

Mitchell was an employee at It'll Be Pizza, a pizza manufacturing company that supplies dough to Hannaford and other grocery stores. He was fired last summer.

Three customers who bought dough from the Saco store reported that they found blades hidden inside the pizza product. Tampered products were also found from Hannaford stores in other locations, including Sanford, Maine and Dover, New Hampshire.

There are no reports of injuries or illnesses from the tampering.

The surveillance footage showed Mitchell entering the Saco store on Oct. 5. He went straight to the refrigerator where the dough was stored and spend there for several minutes before leaving the store without buying anything.

The incident raised concerns about food safety. Hannaford and the pizza maker had received similar complaints two months before but they failed to notify consumers, police and food safety regulators, reported The Portland Press Herald.

Erica Dodge, a spokesperson for Hannaford, said the company has improved its internal incident reporting process following the tampering incident.

"Had the case proceeded to trial, the government would produce evidence that would establish beyond a reasonable doubt that on October 5, 2020, this defendant knowingly tampered with pizza dough by placing razor blades into the dough that was sold to consumers at a Saco supermarket," Mitchell's court documents read.

Tampering with consumer food is a federal offense and could lead to a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Mitchell is awaiting a trial date.