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Subway employee says life has been on hold after being accused of tampering with officer’s drink

Posted at 9:26 PM, Oct 11, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-11 23:26:16-04

LAYTON, Utah -- A Subway employee in Layton was vindicated Tuesday after being arrested in August, accused of poisoning a police officer's drink.

Layton Police said they won't be charging the teenager after the State Lab confirmed they found no trace of drugs.

"My life has been on hold for the past two months, it's been hard to do anything," said Tanis Ukena, the accused employee.

His mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York was delayed six weeks while police investigated.

A Layton Police officer says he was hospitalized after drinking a lemonade Tanis Ukena had poured and served him at the Subway on Highway 193 on Aug. 8. Police arrested Tanis Ukena, after they say they found traces of methamphetamine and THC in the cup.

"I was thinking that they must have been mistaken," Tanis Ukena said.

His parents remember getting the call that his bail was set at $10,000. Death threats also began coming in.

"Apparently Tanis was rated the number two thug in America at one point, it just seemed ludicrous to us, the horrible things people said and posted," said mother Heather Ukena.

Tuesday the Layton Police Department released this statement:

"The Department received word from the State Lab that, at the conclusion of their testing, they are unable to confirm that contaminates were in the officer's drink...Due to the lab results, the Department will not seek charges against Tanis."

Tanis Ukena said the statement was missing one important element, an apology.

"It would be nice for them to even just come out and say, 'we made a mistake we're sorry'," Tanis Ukena said.

Layton Police declined to do an interview with FOX 13 News.

"They were certainly willing to go on camera to condemn him so it would be nice to go on camera to admit they made a mistake," Heather Ukena said.

The teenager is still worried that these accusations will follow him throughout his adult life.

"Anytime I want to get a job or a school application anything like that where someone is going to be googling my name and this is going to come up," Tanis Ukena said.

As for Subway, Tanis Ukena said they've stood by him since day one and he plans to return to work Wednesday.

The Ukena family is also thinking about filing a lawsuit against the Layton Police Department.