Animal clinic employee poisoned coworker's water bottle with pet medication, police say

Emma Kennedy | Pensacola News Journal

A months-long investigation into a possible workplace poisoning has ended with an animal clinic employee arrested for allegedly slipping pet medication into a coworker’s water bottle.

Zoa McIntyre, 38, and the victim had reportedly argued on March 1 about McIntyre starting rumors in the workplace, but the victim said she thought it was handled. Then, the woman left her water bottle in a common room at their shared workplace — Megan’s Landing Animal Clinic — four days later.

The woman said when she picked up her water bottle and drank out of it, she noticed a white powdery substance and said her tongue went numb and she felt nauseous. She and the clinic’s doctor allegedly saw McIntyre tampering with the water bottle on video surveillance, so the victim took the water bottle and went to Sacred Heart Hospital to be tested.

According to McIntyre’s Escambia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, initial testing on the bottle’s rim came back with the presence of cocaine and methamphetamines. Further testing completed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which was completed in late June, showed the substance was Phenobarbital, a medication commonly prescribed to help animals that suffer seizures, according to PetMD.

The animal clinic’s owner told investigators soon after the incident that there is animal euthanasia medication in a lock box, but it didn’t appear that any of that supply had been touched. The owner did say that a prescription for 100 milligrams of Phenobarbital tablets had been recently returned, but she said she wasn’t sure if McIntyre had taken any of them.

A representative from Megan's Landing said Wednesday that McIntyre was immediately terminated once the incident was reported.

McIntyre was arrested July 23 and charged with one count of a food poisoning offense, and was released from the Escambia County Jail the next day on a $25,000 bond.

Emma Kennedy can be reached at ekennedy@pnj.com or 850-435-8680.