Teen spiked stepdad’s energy drinks with cow sedative as a joke, Wisc. court docs say

A Wisconsin teen admitted that he spiked his stepfather’s energy drinks with cow sedatives — because “he thought it would be funny,” according to The Gazette.

Tyler Rabenhorst-Malone, 16, also said he didn’t want to hurt his stepdad with the drugs, according to court documents obtained by WISC. The teen admitted to the poisoning on Feb. 7, about a year after the alleged crimes, according to the TV station.

He has since been charged with “placing foreign objects in edibles and second-degree recklessly endangering safety,” KTRK reported. Those are both felonies.

Rabenhorst-Malone’s stepdad, a dairy farmer in Rock County, reported to police that cow sedatives went missing from his barn in January 2018 “and then (he) began experiencing odd symptoms,” The Gazette reported off of a criminal complaint.

That same month, the stepfather “went to the hospital with a droopy face, slurred speech and heavy breathing, officials said,” according to KTRK. “Doctors told him the symptoms were from a combination of drinking energy drinks, stress and a lack of sleep.”

Those symptoms he was experiencing went away, but when they came back in April 2018, the man monitored what he drank and the symptoms went away, WISC reported.

He and the teen’s mom reported that a bottle of drugs went missing in April, too, according to KTRK. The stepdad also found used syringes that he thought his stepson could have used to poison him, WISC reported.

In April, the man started suspecting that Rabenhorst-Malone was “messing with him,” The Gazette reported.

The man found that a bottle with pills containing Oxytocin and Rompun (xylazine) was empty, The Gazette reported. The first is a hormone, and the latter is used for sedation. Those are the same drugs that the parents reported missing in April, according to KTRK.

Following his suspicions, the stepdad gave samples of his energy drinks to the Rock County Sheriff’s Office, The Gazette reported. The drinks tested positive for xylazine, according to the newspaper.

The teen is scheduled to be in court on March 18, WISC reported.

This story was originally published March 5, 2019 at 1:13 PM with the headline "Teen spiked stepdad’s energy drinks with cow sedative as a joke, Wisc. court docs say."