MAN WHO URINATED IN DRINK HAS TEST ISSUE

Ex-Clerk May Have Violated Probation DeLAND -- Anthony Mesa went to
jail this year because he urinated in a bottle of Mountain Dew and an
unsuspecting customer at the Deltona convenience store where he
worked got violently ill after drinking the contaminated soda.

Now, the former Pix store clerk could get into more trouble because
he can't urinate while somebody is watching.

One condition of Mesa's sentence -- six months in jail and two years
of a form of house arrest -- is that he periodically urinate into a
sterile cup as part of a drug test.

But Mesa, 22, failed to take his court-ordered test Sept. 19.

Mesa said Wednesday he has a valid reason for failing to take the
test - - he has a condition known as paruresis syndrome, or shy
bladder, which affects a person's ability to urinate in public or
when other people are around.

His probation officer has filed an affidavit with the court, asking
for either stronger penalties or for Mesa to have to pay for
blood-drawn drug tests in the future.

"Anthony's little prank has taught him a great deal, and the irony of
it all is that peeing was what got him trouble in the first place,
and now not being able to is getting him trouble again," Mesa's
mother, Denise Hislop, wrote the court trying to explain his actions.

Mesa was in court Wednesday hoping to resolve the issue, but because
of scheduling conflicts the hearing was postponed.

He said that since the violation of probation was filed Sept. 22, he
completed a urine test at the courthouse, where no one had to stand
next to him.

Court records show the test was negative for drugs or alcohol.

"Hopefully, the judge will understand," Hislop said as she left the
courthouse with her son.

The judge will have the discretion to change Mesa's penalties,
include more jail or prison time, or do nothing at all.

Mesa wrote a statement concerning his violation and said he had
nothing to hide, but simply had trouble urinating in public.

In August 2005, Mesa admitted that he and a co-worker at Pix were
playing practical jokes at work when he decided it would be funny to
urinate into a Mountain Dew.

A construction worker who stopped by the next day chugged the drink
and immediately began vomiting.

Mesa pleaded no contest to tampering with a consumer product, a
first- degree felony that could have put him in prison for 30 years.

Circuit Judge James R. Clayton spared Mesa from becoming a convicted
felon by withholding adjudication as long as Mesa abides by the
restrictions of his sentence.

Court records show he has complied with all of the conditions,
including writing letters of apology to Publix, which owns Pix, and
the construction worker, and beginning 300 hours of community service.