ATLANTA (KNX) -- Three times in January, the young brother and sister were taken to hospital emergency rooms. All three times, investigators say, their father had fed them tainted soup.
Now, 40-year-old William Cunningham has been charged with tampering and fraud in a scheme to sue the Campbell Soup Company.
The children are a three-year-old boy and an 18-month-old girl. On the third occasion, investigators say, the girl became so ill she had to be flown by helicopter to an Atlanta hospital. Investigators say her soup was laced with two drugs used to treat depression.
Prosecutors say Cunningham wanted to get money from the manufacturer by claiming its soup caused his children's illnesses. Cunningham contacted Campbell by mail and phone to complain, but there was no evidence the soup was tainted when it was purchased.
If convicted, Cunningham could face up to 75 years in prison.
Prosecutors declined to comment on the children's health.
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