Between June 9 and June 16, reports of people finding syringes in cans of Pepsi-Cola spread across 20 states.
Pepsi said it was virtually impossible for the tampering to have happened in its canning operations.
On June 17, the company released a convenience store surveillance tape which it said showed a woman putting an object into a Pepsi can. The Food and Drug Administration checked the reports and said they were all hoaxes. A number of people were charged with making false claims.
In one case in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, two women who made a videotape they said showed their discovery of a syringe inside a can of Diet Pepsi were convicted of spreading false information and lying to federal investigators. Deborah Garner, 39, and her daughter Dawn, 22, faced prison terms of up to five years and fines of $250,000.
