US woman allegedly poisons co-workers by putting cleaner in coffee maker

Washington: A disgruntled woman employee has been arrested in the US for allegedly poisoning her colleagues by pouring window cleaner into the office coffee maker.

Mayda Rivera-Juarez, 32, who worked as a cleaner at a freight company, was arrested in Sterling, Virginia, as several of her co-workers fell ill after drinking the toxic coffee.

She has been charged with felony assault after she poured a window cleaning agent into the coffee maker at her job over several weeks, the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office said.

Colleagues at JAS Forwarding Worldwide, a freight company, claim they suffered severe digestive problems and diarrhoea.

"The employees at this place had been getting sick, didn't quite know what was going on," Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman was quoted as saying by WJLA-TV.

"When she was coming in to get terminated, some of this came to light," he said.

The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office said Rivera-Juarez was a disgruntled employee and that is why she put cleaning products in a Keurig coffeemaker used by her co-workers.

She lost her job at the company following the allegation and is now being held at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center without bond.

Chapman said some employees were getting sick and did know why until the allegation against Rivera-Juarez came to light.

She is not the first person to be charged with poisoning colleagues using cleaning products.

Earlier this year, Melissa Swift was sentenced to eight years in prison after admitting poisoning co-workers at Goldfield Court care home in West Bromwich, near Birmingham.