Woman accused of attempted murder for Starbucks poisoning
Apr 30, 2013, 1:50 PM | Updated: 2:05 pm
Ramineh Behbehanian, 50, is accused of trying to sneak bottles of orange juice with rubbing alcohol onto the shelves of a Starbucks store. (San Jose Police Department image)
(San Jose Police Department image)
A San Jose, Calif. woman is in jail and accused of attempted murder after allegedly placing two bottles of poisoned orange juice at a Starbucks in the Northern California city.
Police arrested Ramineh Behbehanian, 50, Monday night after a customer saw her take two bottles of orange juice from a purse and put them into one of the refrigerated display cases.
“Apparently she was trying to appear as a customer,” San Jose Police spokesman Sgt. Jason Dwyer said. “She apparently had a Starbucks bag, which in my mind tells me that she had planned this out. A Starbucks bag inside of a Starbucks shop is not going to stand out,” Dwyer told The San Francisco Chronicle.
Officials determined the two bottles contained a “lethal dose” of rubbing alcohol.
Dwyer credited an alert customer with quickly telling employees, who were able to follow the woman to the parking lot and write down her license plate number.
“If it weren’t for the actions of that customer I believe we’d be talking about a homicide right now,” Dwyer said.
Police tracked Behbehanian to her home and arrested her. Dwyer said they don’t know what motivated the attempted poisoning and believe she acted alone. There was no indication she had placed poisoned drinks at any other stores.
The incident happened at about 3:45 pm, when the store is packed with students from a nearby high school.
A Starbucks spokesman praised employees for their quick action and said the company is investigating.
