Layton Subway employee did not drug officer’s soda, officials confirm

LAYTON, Utah — Layton police will not pursue charges against an 18-year-old man they accused of adding drugs to a Subway drink, according to a press release issued Tuesday, Oct. 11.

According to the release, state crime lab personnel initially notified investigators there was a “presence of a foreign substance in the officer’s drink” he purchased on Aug. 8 at a Subway drive-thru, 1142 E. Route 193 in Layton.

Tanis Lloyd Ukena was booked Aug. 8 in Davis County Jail on one count of surreptitious administering of poisonous substance, a second-degree felony. He has since been released.

Crime lab personnel did further testing “in an effort to duplicate and confirm the results. The initial results could not be duplicated,” and “they are unable to confirm that contaminates were in the officer’s drink,” the release says. Three urine and blood tests done on the officer indicated there were no drugs in his system, according to the statement.

Exams also ruled out anything medically wrong with the officer, who called dispatch Aug. 8, shortly after he had gone through the drive-thru at 12:20 p.m. He reported he’d taken several sips of his drink, felt like he had been drugged and had difficulty braking at an intersection, according to the probable cause statement filed with the jail following Ukena’s arrest.

Ukena’s attorney said the investigation was done “poorly” from the beginning.

“From the get-go, my client has denied any wrongdoing for good reason. He did nothing wrong,” attorney Randall Richards said.

Richards said surveillance videos show Ukena holding the officer’s drink, but don’t show him adding anything to it.

Drug-sniffing dogs were also used to search the restaurant for a container that held illegal drugs, but were unable to find “a packet, an empty bottle, nothing,” Richards said.

“The police used a cheap test that showed methamphetamine and THC in the drink,” Richards said. “The officer’s symptoms did not correlate with the drugs, and that should have raised some red flags.”

Layton Police Department Lt. Travis Lyman said Tuesday morning the police officer who made the accusation took several days off following the incident.

Police met with Ukena and his family about the case Tuesday, according to the release. Police are not making any other statements concerning the case except for what was issued in the release.

“The department would also like to express our appreciation for the patience of Tanis and his family during this investigation,” police said.

This article was originally published in the Standard-Examiner. It is used here with permission.

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