Sniper suspect John Lee Malvo says prison food is making him sick.
The 17-year-old blames the meatless loaf he is being fed at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center for an allergic reaction that caused his face to swell and some of his skin to flake off, reports the Fairfax Journal.
The center began serving Malvo “the loaf,” as it’s called – made of flour, raisins, carrots, potatoes and other ingredients baked into brown cakes – after he complained that the prison meat wasn’t prepared properly according to his Muslim faith.
Malvo claims he is getting the loaf for disciplinary reasons.
A sheriff’s spokesman denied that the loaf is considered a punishment.
“It’s not that bad. It’s actually palatable,” he told the Associated Press.
Malvo’s court-appointed guardian, Todd Petit, sent a letter to the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office requesting he be taken off the loaf diet and put on a regular vegetarian diet.
Police have linked Malvo and 41-year-old John Allen Muhammad to 19 shootings – that resulted in 13 deaths – in Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Washington. Both are charged with capital murder. Malvo is accused of killing FBI analyst Linda Franklin outside the Falls Church-area Home Depot store on Oct. 14.
Law-enforcement sources told the Washington Post that Malvo confessed to pulling the trigger in several shootings, including the slaying of Franklin. Fairfax County prosecutor Robert Horan, said Malvo’s fingerprints were the only ones found on the rifle used in the sniper attacks.
Meanwhile, Petit is assembling a report on Malvo before a Jan. 14 preliminary hearing that will determine whether he is tried as an adult and faces the death penalty. Petit said he has learned some details from Malvo’s mother, Una James, who has been deported back to Jamaica.
“She is very concerned about her son,” Petit told the Post. “She has been helpful in leading me to information that I think is very important, and people will need to know about her son.”
James has reportedly not been able to speak to Malvo. She is considered a likely material witness.
James and Malvo moved from Jamaica to Antigua in 1998. Investigators believe it was there that Malvo met Muhammad, a U.S. Army veteran.
As WorldNetDaily reported, Malvo appeared to
be a reluctant Muslim, slowly “pulled into the evil” that Muhammad planned, according to the chaplain of the homeless shelter where the two men stayed last fall near the Canadian border.
Click for the full roster of WND’s stories on the Washington-area shootings
