AUSTIN -- A woman has been accused of dropping mothballs into a vat of soup at a grocery store deli after investigators traced her through a store savings card.

Lea Suzan Sechler, 44, faces a felony charge of tampering with a consumer product. She was released on bail after her arrest Thursday.

“She denied putting ‘handfuls of mothballs’ in the soup; however, she did say that ‘it was possible she might have “maybe” dropped some Prozac or crackers in the soup, but [she] wasn’t sure,’ “ Detective Brendon Hanly wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit. “She asked me several times if she should confess.”

Sechler could not be located for comment on Saturday.

She had been a regular customer at the Randall’s supermarket

where at least three times customers and employees noticed the soup had the scent of mothballs.

No illnesses related to the tainted soup have been reported, said Connie Yates, a spokeswoman for Randalls Food Markets.

Authorities say a deli clerk noticed a mothball smell coming from the soup in late May and was told to throw it out. About a week later, a customer complained about a smell coming from soup she bought at the store. A manager closed the soup station and sent the batch for testing at a food industry safety company, an affidavit said.

The soup tested positive for dichlorobenzene, a primary ingredient in many mothballs and a chemical that can contribute to a range of ailments, the affidavit said.

Management at the supermarket installed surveillance cameras near the soup station after the second incident and had employees check on it regularly.

A manager noticed the smell of mothballs again on June 20.  Surveillance video showed Sechler opening a vat of soup at the cart before it started to smell, police said.

“When she opened it, she used the back of her hand indicating that she had something in it,” Hanly wrote in the report. “She did not bend over to look into the vat or stir it, but had her hand in there for at least a second before removing it.”

Police tracked Sechler through a store savings card she used at the store. A search of the purchases made with the card showed she had bought mothballs and soup at the store around the times the vat was tainted, the affidavit said.