ELIZABETHTOWN, NC. – According to local investigators, a former Smithfield Foods employee attempted to set fire to a canopy at the pork processing facility in Tar Heel, NC.

The Bladen County Sheriff’s Office stated that 26-year-old suspect Latasha Rena Bittle, threw a plastic jug with accelerants onto a break area canopy at the Smithfield plant on Oct. 12.

The authorities charged Bittle with second degree trespass, damage to occupied property with an explosive and five counts of injury to personal property. 

A report from WECT said that Bittle was identified as a suspect after she sent an email to Smithfield Corporate on the morning of the incident. Bittle was disgruntled about an incident that happened when she was an employee of Smithfield. 

During the arson incident, Bittle was also allegedly heard saying that she would “burn the plant down and shoot it up.”

Smithfield did not respond to a request for comment.