Florida man who replaced teen's medication with laxatives found guilty
Courtesy: Flagler County Sheriff's Office
FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. - A Florida man has been found guilty after a woman reported that her 14-year-old son's medication had been tampered with back in 2019.
Craig Allen Ripple, 54, was found guilty of child abuse and child neglect three years after the woman showed police footage of Ripple suspiciously removing items from her son's bedroom, Flagler County Deputies said.
When deputies met with the teen's mother on August 8, 2019, she said while giving her son his nightly dose of medication, it appeared that the pill had been tampered with.
After she dismantled the tablet, she found multiple round pink tablets with a black "5" printed on them, deputies said.
The woman identified the pills as laxatives explaining to detectives that her son was refusing to take the medication because "it tasted strange and was making him ill."
When interviewed by detectives, Ripple admitted to tampering with the medication and putting pink colored anti-diarrheal tablets into the teen's medication capsules.
Deputies said 11 of the 28 capsules had been tampered with.
"This is a very bizarre case and it takes a sick and twisted individual to administer laxatives to a child without his or his mother’s knowledge," Sheriff Rick Staly said. "I hope the courts deal harshly with him and that this is a wakeup call that this behavior is dangerous and will not be tolerated. Thankfully the victim was not significantly injured."
A warrant was signed on April 24, 2020, for Ripple's arrest.
RIpple was sentenced to 14 months in state prison followed by 36 months of probation upon his release.