DENVER—Authorities have arrested a man accused of replacing labels on dozens of Gatorade bottles in Colorado with ones that had a picture of Tiger Woods and his wife and the word “unfaithful.”
Jason Eric Kay, 38, of Longmont, Colo., was being held Wednesday on three charges alleging he misbranded and altered food labels with intent to hurt a brand or business. Safeway and King Soopers workers found mislabeled bottles in stores in Boulder, Erie, Broomfield and Longmont, prosecutors said.
Kay was due in U.S. District Court in Denver on Thursday. It wasn’t known if he has hired a lawyer.
Kay allegedly told an FBI investigator he is an artist and considered the changed labels to be pop art in the style of Andy Warhol, according to an affidavit.
None of the bottles appeared to have been opened.
The bottles were individually numbered and included an e-mail address that matched one that sent an e-mail to PepsiCo North America claiming responsibility for the labels, the affidavit said. The e-mail, signed with the name Jason Kay, said Kay represented an artist behind the labels turning up in Denver-area stores.
“We’re creating quite a buzz!” the e-mail said. It also asked Gatorade if it wanted to quietly support the artist by paying for him to travel to various cities, don a Gatorade shirt and put more bottles with replaced labels on store shelves, according to the affidavit.
The FBI traced the e-mail address to Kay, who allegedly confirmed the address is his, the affidavit said.
Kay filed for unemployment benefits in December, according to the affidavit.
