A Tampa man has been sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison for tricking his pregnant ex-girlfriend into taking a pill he believed would cause her to have a miscarriage.
A federal judge sentenced John Andrew Welden on Monday. The man pleaded guilty in September to tampering with a consumer product and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. He had faced a possible life sentence if convicted of his original charge, killing an unborn child.
Prosecutors say Welden forged a signature last year on a prescription for a pill used to induce labor. He relabeled a pill bottle as an antibiotic and told his then-girlfriend to take the pills. She was six or seven weeks pregnant when she miscarried.
Welden admitted in a plea agreement that he forged the signature of his father, who is a Tampa-area obstetrician.
