A man who was recorded as homeless was recently apprehended when he was suspected of dumping bleach on top of consumable items for sale at Southern California grocery stores.
In a time period spanning from December 14 through January 20, in four separate incidents, grocery stores in Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Westwood, and West Hollywood reportedly discovered that there was bleach spilled on top of some of the consumable frozen products intended for public purchase. The main items that were found to be affected were reported as ice and frozen shrimp.
The stores were equipped with CCTV, and when the federal authorities reviewed the captured material recorded during the periods of time that the incidents were reported they saw what appeared to be a man taking bleach bottles off of the shelves at each of the stores. The man was then shown on the video as he allegedly went to the frozen sections and appeared to dump the contents of the bleach bottles over the ice in coolers in some cases, and frozen shrimp in others.
The authorities believed that they recognized the man due to an active federal warrant that caused them to conclude that the suspect had a similar appearance to the man in the video.
48-year-old David Clare Lohr, a homeless man who frequents the South Bay and Los Angeles areas, was apprehended on February 6 when he accidentally spilled hydrogen peroxide and what was described as a white powdered substance on the ground inside of a bus. It was later identified as salt, but Lohr was pegged as the suspect of an incident similar to the bleach-bathed groceries reportedly involving peroxide being poured on “or near” chickens at a store located in the Northern California area earlier that day.
When Lohr was taken into custody by local deputies for the spilled salt the warrant for his arrest was discovered.
Lohr was booked into the Santa Clara County jail and charged with tampering and attempting to tamper with consumer products.
When Lohr was previously accused of six incidents involving bleach and the freezers in Phoenix, AZ, stores in 2018 he issued a statement explaining that he was not trying to harm anyone, but was instead trying to kill the “invisible chemicals” that he believed were inside.
If you or someone you love is suspected of a crime, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.