NORWOOD, N.C. -- Two South Stanly High School cafeteria workers are out on bond after being charged with attempted poisoning.
Angela Johnson, 38, and Eileen Hallamore, 64, were arrested Tuesday and charged with trying to poison their supervisor by putting cleaning solution in her tea.
This is my 24th year as a superintendent. You never can say you saw or would see everything, said Stanly County School Superintendent Doctor Samuel DePaul. It was very strange.
DePaul says the district found out about the attempted poisoning last week.
Fortunately another employee got wind of it, he explained.
So the school district started its own investigation after contacting the Stanly County Sheriff s Office. Sheriff Rick Burris detectives then took over the case.
It s a good thing there were no more serious problems than what they were. It could have been a bad situation, said Burris.
Burris says both women were charged with distributing food containing poison. They could have faced even tougher charges, like attempted murder.
[Distributing food containing poison is] a class C felony, he explained. It s a pretty serious charge but nothing like attempted murder.
Both of the accused cafeteria workers are out on $5,000 bond. NewsChannel 36 tried to speak with both women. No one at Angela Johnson's house returned our calls or answered the door, but Eileen Hallamore's husband spoke to us.
I ll tell you right now. There was no poison whatsoever, said Bob Hallamore.
Bob Hallamore says his wife isn't worried about the charges, or her upcoming April 25 court date.
What s next? Nothing. We re going to go have a party, said Hallamore. Yeah, a not guilty party!
The school district says the two women no longer work for the school. Since Burris says neither has a previous criminal history, the school district says they will not change their hiring policies. All employees already go through background checks.
