According to prosecutors, Jonathan Tilman Lane was working on a processing line for Johnsonville Sausage LLC in March when he was caught on video surveillance placing a cigarette paper into a link on one occasion and a copper wire into another link on another occasion. He was in the final phase of the processing line and the links could have gone out to consumers in interstate commerce.
Johnsonville officials were forced to close down the operation and discard all products they thought might have been affected.
U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper in Milwaukee sentenced Lane on Nov. 29. She also ordered him to pay $42,035 in restitution.
