Georgia man poisons children's soup

A man from Georgia admitted that he poisoned his children's soup in an attempt to get money from the Campbell Soup Co. He was sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Photo: Georgia man poisons children's soup

U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes also ordered William Allen Cunningham, 41, to have no further contact with the children or his ex-wife.

Cunningham pleaded guilty Feb. 6 to a charge of communicating false claims by putting in a call to Campbell Soup threatening to sue because the soup was contaminated.

His 3-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter were hospitalized twice in January 2006. Authorities said the first time he had forced them to eat soup laced with hot peppers and lighter fluid and the second time he used the prescription drugs Prozac and Amitriptyline - both used to treat depression - to poison the children.

Cunningham was arrested two months later. His wife, Rhonda, filed for divorce on May 6.