text: Ramineh Behbehanian, 50, was arrested on April 29, 2013 on suspicion of putting rubbing alcohol into bottles of orange juice and putting them into a Starbucks refrigerator case in South San Jose. (San Jose Police Department photo) Related Stories San Jose: Woman arrested, accused of trying to sneak "poisoned" OJ into Starbucks fridge 
   
   SAN JOSE -- An experienced corporate chemist and pharmacist from South San Jose became an accused would-be killer on Monday in bizarre fashion: By eschewing her vast expertise and allegedly making a crude mix of rubbing alcohol and orange juice that police say she tried to sneak into the display case of a Starbucks just as it was filling with high-schoolers. 
   
   Police haven't revealed whom, if anyone, might have been targeted. But they felt strongly enough to arrest Ramineh Behbehanian on suspicion of attempted murder after the ploy was literally sniffed out by an alert customer and a sharp-eyed employee who took note of her car's license plate number as she made a hasty exit. 
   
   Initial tests of the bottles revealed them to have a potentially lethal amount of the household solvent. 
   
   "If it weren't for the actions of that customer, I believe we'd be talking about a homicide right now," said Sgt. Jason Dwyer, a police spokesman. 
   
   Behbehanian, 50, has been in jail without bail since her Monday night arrest. Police say it remains unclear why she allegedly put the tainted juice bottles into the refrigerated display case at the coffee chain's shop on Snell Avenue. 
   
   Luckily, no one drank the toxic concoction, largely because the alleged means and tactics were as clear as the alcohol she purportedly mixed. A coffee-shop regular was standing behind her in line about 3:45 p.m. and watched as she pulled two bottles out of her green Starbucks bag and placed them in the open-air fridge, police said. 
   
   The customer immediately alerted a store manager, apparently spooking Behbehanian into leaving, but not before an employee got a glimpse of her license plate, police said. 
   
   Employees immediately grabbed the bottles of orange juice and examined them. They realized the seals had been broken and smelled "something toxic," Dwyer said. 
   
   They called 911, summoning San Jose police and the San Jose Fire Department, which brought its hazardous materials team. After clearing out the store, the hazardous materials technicians -- who are trained to respond to events as high-level as the deployment of weapons of mass destruction -- took samples of the liquid and ran it through a portable mass spectrometer that confirmed it was isopropyl alcohol, a common household solvent. 
   
   "It was significant enough to be seriously harmful. I can't say it will cause death, but it's a possibility," said Capt. Cleo Doss, a fire department spokesman. "It depends on how much you consume. They could have a sip and stop, or someone who couldn't smell it, maybe had a cold, might drink more." 
   
   Using the information provided by the customer and the employee, police tracked Behbehanian to her home 5 miles west on Chambertin Drive and arrested her after questioning. 
   
   Her LinkedIn page states she has a master's degree in physical chemistry and chemical engineering from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and worked as a scientist, engineer or project manager for a string of high-profile corporations including Pfizer, Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson. At the time of her arrest, she was working at Janssen, a pharmaceutical subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. This was confirmed by a company spokesman Tuesday. 
   
   Calls to Behbehanian's home and relatives went unreturned Tuesday. Behbehanian declined a request for a jailhouse interview with this newspaper. 
   
   The alleged poisoning attempt occurred about the time students from Santa Teresa High School usually flock to the Starbucks, which is in the Santa Teresa Square shopping center across the street from the school. 
   
   A Starbucks spokesman lauded the multitude of acts that prevented anyone, including the students, from ingesting the spiked substance. 
   
   "We're grateful to the customer who did the right thing," Starbucks spokesman Zack Hutson said, adding the company thanked its employees "for doing all the right things," including getting the suspect's license plate number. 
   
   Hutson said the company is continuing to cooperate with the police investigation. After the incident, the Snell Avenue store pulled all the remaining juices from the refrigerator and destroyed them. He said other nearby Starbucks were notified and told to check all their juice bottles to make sure the seals weren't broken. 
   
   Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga. Contact Mark Gomez at 408-920-5869. Follow him at Twitter.com/MarkMGomez. ||||| In this April 29, 2013 photo released by the San Jose Police Department is Ramineh Behbehanian, 50. Behbehanian is facing attempted murder charges after authorities say she tried to sneak orange juice... (Associated Press) 
   
   In this April 29, 2013 photo released by the San Jose Police Department is Ramineh Behbehanian, 50. Behbehanian is facing attempted murder charges after authorities say she tried to sneak orange juice... (Associated Press) 
   
   A California woman faces attempted murder charges after police say she tried to sneak orange juice bottles spiked with a lethal amount of rubbing alcohol inside a Starbucks. 
   
   San Jose Police arrested Ramineh Behbehanian, 50, late Monday. A customer reported seeing the woman take two bottles of orange juice from her bag and place them in an open-air refrigerated display case at a Starbucks in San Jose around 3:45 p.m., Sgt. Jason Dwyer said Tuesday. 
   
   When the customer told a store manager what he saw, Behbehanian fled. A store employee followed Behbehanian to the parking lot and jotted down her license plate number as she drove off. Other employees called 911 after noticing the bottles had a toxic smell, Dwyer said. 
   
   Firefighters on the scene tested the contents and determined that the bottles contained a "lethal quantity" of isopropyl rubbing alcohol mixed with the juice, Dwyer said. 
   
   No one drank from the bottles, said Dwyer, who praised the customer's quick actions. 
   
   "This person was heads-up enough and reported suspicious activity," Dwyer said. "I think that person saved lives by doing that." 
   
   Officers tracked down Behbehanian Monday night at her San Jose home located about five miles away from the store. She was placed into custody on suspicion of attempted murder and felony poisoning, Dwyer said. 
   
   Police are still looking for a motive. 
   
   "We don't know if she has done this before or if she had plans to do this again," Dwyer said. "We have no reason to believe that there are other coffee shops with similar dangers." 
   
   Dwyer declined to say how much rubbing alcohol was actually in the bottles, but he said it was sufficient for police to charge Behbehanian with attempted murder. 
   
   The Starbucks store in San Jose was closed after Monday's incident but reopened the next morning, Starbucks spokesman Zack Hutson said Tuesday. 
   
   "We're immensely grateful to the vigilant customer who immediately did the right thing by notifying our store partners who immediately pulled the juice from the shelves and quickly notified the authorities," Hutson said. 
   
   As a precaution, Hutson said that the Starbucks store in San Jose pulled all of its remaining juices from the open-air refrigerator and destroyed them. Other Starbucks nearby were also alerted and told to check all their juice bottles to make sure none of its seals were broken. 
   
   Behbehanian could make her first appearance in court as soon as Thursday, authorities said.
target: – An alert customer at Starbucks may have saved lives by derailing an alleged plot to poison orange juice sold there. Police say Ramineh Behbehanian, 50, put two bottles of juice spiked with a lethal amount of rubbing alcohol into the display case of a store in San Jose, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. A customer saw her put the bottles inside the case and told a store employee, who followed Behbehanian out of the store and jotted down her license plate. Police tracked her down and charged her with attempted murder after determining that the bottles had enough rubbing alcohol to kill someone who drank it, reports Inside Bay Area. "We don't know if she has done this before or if she had plans to do this again," a police spokesman tells AP. "We have no reason to believe that there are other coffee shops with similar dangers."