Man caught tampering with bartender’s drink inside pub in Wisconsin

WISCONSIN — A man was caught on surveillance video tampering with a bartender’s drink inside a pub in Rusk County.

The incident occurred at around 5:30pm Wednesday night at Missy’s Broken Arrow, a popular hangout spot in Conrath, Wisconsin.

Bartender Mellissa Hladilek was working a normal shift tending the bar before she was called to help her manager, Doug Merrill, with some cleaning duties in the back room, according to a report from WQOW.

Hladilek told WQOW she was only gone for a few minutes, but that was enough time for her perpetrator to take action.

“After I was done, I came back out, sat at the counter,” said Hladilek, according to the report. “After a couple minutes, I took a drink of my soda and it felt gritty, so I wiped my lip off a little bit. Then I got to looking at the can and I saw a white powder substance on there. Then I took it in back to show the manager and I’m like, ‘I think there’s something wrong with this can, it’s funny, you know?'”

According to the report, Merrill looked inside her can with a flashlight and noticed it was foaming, prompting him to view the surveillance cameras.

Footage showed a man taking seat at the bar, slipping a substance inside Hladilek’s drink, before switching seats.

According to Hladilek and Merrill, the individual seen on video is a Broken Arrow regular they both personally know. Merrill said the individual was arrested that same night.

The suspect, later identified as 56-year-old Leo Parish Bennett, was charged with 2nd-degree recklessly endangering safety aggravated assault and placing foreign objects in edibles, according to a photo circulating on social media.