Middle School Girls Face Poisoning Charges For Spiking Teacher's Drink With Red Pepper: Cops

Three 12-year-old girls in Florida are facing charges they poisoned their middle school teacher as payback after one of them was sent to the principal's office.

Volusia County police said in a release posted to Facebook that Marjorie Garrido-Herrera and two of her friends hatched the plan after 52-year-old Jayne Morgan sent Garrido-Herrera to the principal’s office for dumping glue into another student’s backpack and for suspicion of stealing a laptop computer. 

Investigators say Garrido-Herrera took crushed hot red pepper to school from her home and passed it off to her friend. While a third girl allegedly distracted Morgan, police say the second friend dumped the spicy flakes into the teacher's can of cola.

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"When Morgan took a drink of the tampered soda on Tuesday, her throat immediately became hot and scratchy and she started to choke and experience shortness of breath," read the police statement.

"After taking a second sip, the teacher poured the rest of the soda into a clear plastic cup and noticed the flecks of red pepper."

Investigators say Morgan suffered from throat and stomach pains that lasted throughout the day and into the evening.

Garrido-Herrera and the second girl, identified by police as Leisy Llanes-Pupo, are being charged with poisoning food or water and tampering with consumer products.

The third girl, Cristal Tejeda-Castro, is being charged with tampering with consumer products and being a principal to poisoning food or water, police said.

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