Bleach Contamination Case, Family Speaks

West Columbia, S.C. (WOLO) — A judge has set a $525,000 bond for Donald Foster III, whom authorities say poured such high levels of chlorine bleach into the water tanks of a kidney dialysis machine, that any patient receiving a treatment would have died. Judge Brian Jeffcoat denied Foster’s and his lawyer’s request to have Foster released and sent by home to be with his five-year-old daughter and mother, with whom he lives. 49-year-old Donald Albert Foster, III is charged with attempted murder and burglary. Lexington County Sheriff James Metts says Foster poured chlorine bleach into a water holding tank Saturday night in order to contaminate the water supply for dialysis machines, which authorities say he knew would be used just days later. Employees at the Fresenius Dialysis Clinic in West Columbia discovered the deadly levels of bleach before it was given to patients. Metts says Foster was suspended from his job without pay at the Fresenius Medical Clinic on Sum Mor Drive, after he allegedly was reprimanded for taking patients’ prescription pills. Sheriff Metts says he suspects Foster was mistakenly allowed into the building by a member of the clinic’s cleaning crew unaware of Foster’s suspension. Authorities say during questioning, Foster admitted to contaminating the tanks, but according to police did not give a clear reason why. He did not admit to anything in court Thursday morning, only stating that he understood the charges against him.