Postal Worker Charged in Coffee Urine Case

Thursday, August 25, 2005 5:54:59 PM

AKRON, Ohio (AP) - A postal worker has been charged with putting urine in the coffee of co-workers who set up a video camera in their break room after they became suspicious, authorities said.

Thomas Shaheen, 49, of suburban Springfield Township, who works as a vehicle mechanic for the U.S. Postal Service, was charged Aug. 5 with two misdemeanor counts of adulteration of food or placing harmful objects in food.

He was ordered to appear in Akron Municipal Court on Monday.

Prosecutors said workers believed Shaheen poured urine into a coffee pot in a break room on July 5 and again July 6. Suspecting a problem, workers started their own investigation.

"Employees did put a video camera in, and that's how they were able to put a stop to what he was doing," Akron Prosecutor Douglas Powley said.

Powley said Shaheen was unhappy at work but the prosecutor declined to get into any further details.

None of Shaheen's co-workers was physically harmed.

Shaheen could not be reached for comment. Repeated calls to his home went unanswered Thursday. A message was left for his attorney, Paul F. Adamson.

Shaheen has been a postal employee for 11 years, said David Van Allen, a postal service spokesman.