ORLANDO, Fla. – A Florida man who admitted to tricking his pregnant girlfriend into taking pills known to cause abortion has been ordered to serve more than 13 years in federal prison and to pay her about $28,500 in restitution, US prosecutors said.
John Andrew Welden, 29, was sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty in September to charges of tampering with a consumer product resulting in bodily injury and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
As part of a plea agreement, Welden admitted that he gave the pills to his girlfriend, Remee Jo Lee, in March 2013 to kill her unborn baby. Lee said he had forged the signature of his father, an obstetrician, on a prescription and conspired with a pharmacy employee to order Cytotec, which can induce abortions.
Cytotec, known generically as misoprostol, is prescribed to prevent stomach ulcers and carries a warning that it should not be used during pregnancy because it can cause abortion, birth defects and premature death.
Welden scratched off identifying markings on the pills and then placed them in a bottle with a label provided by the unnamed pharmacy co-conspirator indicating the contents were amoxicillin, an antibiotic, prescribed for his girlfriend, according to court documents.
