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Avery, who made a brief court appearance Thursday on the tampering counts each punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine, was ordered jailed pending a scheduled detention hearing Monday.

A message left Thursday with Avers’ federal public defender was not immediately returned.

FBI Special Agent Daniel Cook, in an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint, wrote that Shop ‘n Save alerted him July 9 of the tamper, which dated to May of last year, when a customer first reported finding a needle in a package of ground beef. Roughly four months later, Cook wrote, a store employee found a needle sticking out of a package of pork chops. Customers later reported finding needles in everything from ground beef to roasts and steaks.

Using its surveillance camera footage, Cook wrote, the Shop ‘n Save’s security crew identified a suspect seen manipulating meat items he never ended up buying and alerted Cook on Tuesday when that man again entered the store, riding a motorized scooter and using a portable oxygen tank.

After buying various items, Cook said, the man was approached by investigators outside the store and allowed them to search his truck, where an open package of sewing needles was found in a centre console. Identifying himself as Ronald Avers, Cook wrote, the man insisted he kept the needles on hand to mend pants he tore while camping, then gradually acknowledged he used the needles more inappropriately.

“‘Every now and then I would stick one in a hamburger,”‘ Cook quoted Avers as saying before the man expounded, “‘Mostly hamburger, a couple of times I did it with a roast, maybe a pork chop every now and then.”‘

Avers insisted he had no justification for such tampering, calling it a “stupid idea,” Cook wrote.

“Avers said during the interview two times he inserted sewing needles into packaged meat products, ‘just for the hell of it.”‘ the FBI agent write, adding that Avers continued, “It was stupidity. I didn’t want to hurt nobody.”