Woman accused in poison attempt
Article reprinted in extended entry in case it gets removed.
BRADENTON -- A former elementary school guidance counselor has been charged with trying to kill her boyfriend by spiking his beer with poison.
Over two days in August, Carolyn L. Stewart, 37, bought a poisonous angel's trumpet plant and seeds from the online auction house eBay, investigators said.
She soaked the seeds in water and used an eyedropper to add the solution to the beer, sheriff's reports said.
Her boyfriend, 47-year-old Michael R. Skoyec, was taken to a hospital Aug. 31 with stroke-like symptoms, said his brother, Rick Skoyec.
Doctors were unable to find anything wrong and a drug test came up negative. He recovered and was released from the hospital.
Skoyec's brother discovered the angel's trumpet purchases on the home computer.
Jim Shingledecker, an investigator with the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, said Stewart made incriminating statements during a recorded telephone call to Skoyec.
She was charged Thursday with poisoning food or water, a felony. She was released from jail Thursday night on $10,000 bail.
Matt Whyte, an attorney at a firm representing Stewart on unrelated theft charges, said he had not seen information about the poisoning charge.
"We're confident that when all of the facts come to light, Ms. Stewart will be exonerated," he said.
Michael Skoyec told Shingledecker his girlfriend had tried to harm him once before. He said he was in a hot tub when she jolted him from behind with a stun gun, Shingledecker said.
"She applied it to him and he wasn't expecting it. It was quite a surprise to him," Shingledecker said.
She said Stewart told him she had stunned Skoyec for sexual stimulation. The stun gun purchase was also traced to eBay, Shingledecker said.
From 1998 until October last year, Stewart worked at Sea Breeze Elementary as a guidance counselor. She also worked part-time for the Sheriff's Office as a civilian employee for Child Protective Services.
According to arrest reports, Stewart went into a teacher's room at Sea Breeze and took a credit card, then made $750 in purchases at two local stores. She returned the card later that day.
She resigned from both jobs after her arrest on credit card fraud charges. She pleaded no contest to those charges Tuesday, but won't serve any time in jail.
Stewart also faces charges of scheming to defraud the school system's health insurance. She is accused of lying when she signed enrollment documents that said Michael R. Skoyec and his son were her husband and son.
Angel's trumpet seeds were for sale Friday on eBay for less than $5, and a 2-foot-tall plant for less than $10.
Angel's trumpet poisoning can cause blurred vision, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, convulsions and possibly a coma or death, according to the National Institutes of Health Medline medical encyclopedia, although death is unlikely.
Symptoms can last as long as three days.
"Those seeds are pretty concentrated," said Vincent Speranza, manager of the Tampa office of the Florida Poison Information Center Network.
In 2002, the Tampa office received 55 calls about poisonings related to plants similar to the angel's trumpet.
Although some people have tried to eat or drink things containing angel's trumpet to experience its mild hallucinogenic properties, Sperenza said, "it's not a very pleasant kind of high" because of the side effects.
Rick Skoyec said Friday that his brother had dated Stewart for about 10 years. He said his brother was too distraught to talk to a reporter.
"He's still kind of in shock about the whole thing," he said.
