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Plantation Man Charged After Police Say He Mailed Peanut Butter to Woman With Severe Allergy
Joseph Gerard Cancellare Jr., 68, is accused of sending a card smeared with peanut butter to his ex-wife's best friend, who has a life-threatening peanut allergy. Police traced the stamps to a Davie kiosk purchase made with his Visa card.
PLANTATION, Fla. â A 68-year-old Plantation man is facing criminal charges after police say he mailed a card coated in peanut butter to a woman with a severe, potentially fatal peanut allergy â a woman who is the best friend of his ex-wife and who has known him for roughly two decades.
Joseph Gerard Cancellare Jr. was arrested Friday by Plantation police on charges of culpable negligence exposing another person to harm and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to an arrest report. He was being held Saturday morning at the Broward Sheriff's Office North Broward Bureau jail on a $20,000 bond.
The case began Aug. 14, when the woman came home from work, collected her mail and noticed a blue envelope in her driveway that looked greasy and carried handwriting she did not recognize. Inside, police said, she found a brown substance spread across a card and immediately recognized it as peanut butter.
According to the report, the woman â who cannot come into contact with peanuts, peanut oil or items contaminated through cross-contact â dropped the envelope and ran inside to wash her hands. She later broke out in hives and felt tingling in both arms for about six hours. She told investigators her allergy affects her breathing and that exposure without immediate medical treatment could be fatal.
She contacted Plantation police, who worked with the U.S. Postal Service to trace the mailing. Investigators linked two "Forever" stamps on the envelope to a purchase at a USPS kiosk in Davie on Aug. 8, paid for with a Visa card belonging to Cancellare, the report states. The envelope, mailed under the fictitious name "Goergina Sawals" and a false return address, was processed in Miami on Aug. 13 before reaching the woman.
The woman identified Cancellare from a photograph obtained from the post office. She told investigators the two had known each other for about 20 years and that the couples had often socialized, including dinners where she had to take precautions against accidental peanut exposure. She said Cancellare would have known how serious her allergy is, and that his divorce from her best friend was contentious, with Cancellare largely blaming her for the breakup. The last time they spoke, she said, was in July 2022, when she served as an observer during the division of property in the divorce settlement.
Another man who knew the former couple told investigators that Cancellare was well aware of the allergy and had been told about the potentially deadly consequences of exposure. That man also alleged Cancellare had made remarks about the woman and expressed a desire to harm her, according to the report.
Police concluded that Cancellare sent the peanut butter-covered card knowing that exposing the woman to the substance could cause her death or serious injury. The woman told authorities she wants to pursue charges.
The arrest report does not indicate whether Cancellare has an attorney. The allegations remain accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless proven otherwise in court.