Now you know why they call Mountain Dew "monkey piss"

[Dr. Jack]

Soda 'prank' nets 6-month sentence


DeLAND -- The man who put the ewww in Mountain Dew was sentenced to six months in county jail Thursday.

Anthony Mesa admitted to urinating in a soda that caused the man who bought it at a Deltona convenience store to throw up immediately after taking a gulp.

Mesa told the judge he has matured in the 10 months since then and said he never intended for anyone to drink the tainted soda he put back in a cooler at the store where he worked.

"Why would you do it if you didn't want anybody to drink it?" Volusia Circuit Judge James R. Clayton asked him Thursday before sentencing him.

"Immaturity, stupidity," 22-year-old Mesa replied.

The prank was no laughing matter to the construction worker who bought the soda. He later reached a settlement with Publix for an undisclosed amount before a lawsuit was filed, his attorney said.

The construction worker feared he could have contracted a sexually transmitted disease from the drink, but he has received a clean bill of health.

Clayton told Mesa he was required to punish him -- both because Mesa broke the law and to send a signal to others who might think of trying a similar stunt.

Mesa, of Deltona, could have faced up to 30 years on the felony charge of tampering with a consumer product. He pleaded no contest three months ago and has served half his sentence. He will be released on a form of house arrest for two years.

The judge ordered Mesa to write letters of apology to the unsuspecting customer and Publix, which owns the Pix convenience store. Mesa also must complete 300 hours of community service and serve three years' probation.

Still, Clayton spared Mesa from becoming a convicted felon when he withheld adjudication as long as Mesa abides by the restrictions of his sentence.

Mesa's mother, Denise Hislop, had tears in her eyes after the hearing. She said she was satisfied with the judge's ruling. She told the judge the incident was humiliating to her family, but that her son was not a malicious or vindictive man.

"I believe that Anthony has come to see the light, and has matured a whole lot," Hislop said. "I know that in his heart he's not an evil person. He's not a threat to society."

The state had asked the judge to consider the circumstances of the crime and asked for a reasonable jail term followed by a lengthy probation sentence.

"Everyone in this room is a consumer," Assistant State Attorney Amy Walker said. "When we go to a store, we have to trust things haven't been tampered in any way."

Mesa was working at a Pix store on Howland Boulevard in August when he and a co-worker decided to play practical jokes. They put eggs in beer cartons, and Mesa thought it would be funny to urinate into a drink, according to arrest reports.

The co-worker, William E. Bonilla, pleaded no contest to culpable negligence in March and was sentenced to six months' probation.

A convenience-store clerk urinated into a drink, and the customer who drank it became ill.

[Steel]

Never drank the stuff and now I for surely never will. The man should have also been ordered to drink piss for his first week in jail. Monkey piss would have been just fine.

[Victor]

I love Mountain Dew! I will only drink it out of a can for now on. lol Some people.