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Product tampering results in 4-year federal prison sentence

Robert Burns admitted he tampered with items in stores throughout the Harrisburg region.

  • The Associated Press
FILE: NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 11: A US Department of Justice seal is displayed on a podium during a news conference to announce money laundering charges against HSBC on December 11, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. HSBC Holdings plc and HSBC USA NA have agreed to pay $1.92 billion and enter into a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in regards to charges involving money laundering with Mexican drug cartels.

 Ramin Talaie / Getty Images

FILE: NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 11: A US Department of Justice seal is displayed on a podium during a news conference to announce money laundering charges against HSBC on December 11, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. HSBC Holdings plc and HSBC USA NA have agreed to pay $1.92 billion and enter into a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in regards to charges involving money laundering with Mexican drug cartels.

(Mechanicsburg) — A 61-year-old Pennsylvania man was sentenced Tuesday to four years in federal prison for consumer product tampering.

Prosecutors said Robert K. Burns of Mechanicsburg had previously admitted that nearly three years ago he returned tampered items to stores in the Harrisburg region. He pleaded guilty in August 2021.

In a presentence report filed with the court in December, Burns’ lawyer called it a “petty, if sophisticated, theft,” saying no could have been hurt by Burns’ behavior and that harming others was not his intention.

The letter from Burns’ lawyer said he worked for 30 years in consumer products production, sales and supervision — and believed the tampered items would have to be thrown out, not restocked.

Prosecutors said the length of Burns’ sentence was justified by his sophisticated methods, his repeated actions and the potential danger from consumer packaging tampering.

Burns’ lawyer, Craig E. Kauzlarich, declined comment on the sentence.

When Burns’ home was searched and police took medication packaging, glue, jars and white cream, a warrant affidavit said he returned items to the same grocery store at least 24 times.

But Kauzlarich said the guilty plea only concerned one return, a heartburn medication taken back a drug store.

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