Three 12-year-old girls are facing criminal charges after they allegedly poured red pepper into a middle school teacher's soft drink, sickening the educator.
The three girls were arrested Friday night and taken to Volusia Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Daytona Beach, NBC affiliate WESH reported.
Volusia County sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson says one of the girls was angry with the teacher, identified as 52-year-old Jayne Morga, after she had disciplined the student. According to WESH, officials said the girl was sent to the principal's office on Monday for "dumping glue into another student's backpack and for suspicion of stealing a laptop computer."
The next day, the girl brought the crushed red pepper from home and grabbed Morgan's open can of soda. Davidson says a second girl poured the pepper into the can while the third girl distracted Morgan.
When Morgan took a drink, she began choking and experienced shortness of breath, officials said. She discovered the pepper flakes when she poured the soda into a clear cup.
Two students are being charged with poisoning food or water and tampering with consumer products. A third student is being charged with tampering with consumer products and being a principal to poisoning food or water.
All charges are felony offenses.
