Cape May Man Says Something Touched His Lips in His Energy Drink

Do you drink Monster Energy drinks? I can't handle that much caffeine, but I know how popular they are.

Caffeine was what Teddy Soto from Cape May County was looking for one day in January 2025 when he pulled into a Cumberland County Wawa to get a Monster Energy drink.

What he most definately was not looking for was a rodent in the can.

According to an article I read in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Soto claims that he opened his Monster Energy drink that day and began to drink it.

When he was almost finished, something touched his lips from inside the can.

Soto pulled over and shone his phone's camera inside and saw the tail and feet of a rodent, according to the lawsuit he has filed.

At the bottom of the can was a rodent’s carcass, the complaint says. Soto was overcome with nausea.

OMG! Can you imagine? That certainly would wake you up.

Was It a Monster or Bang Energy Drink

The Philadelphia Inquirer article says that Soto was drinking a Monster Bang energy drink. I am assuming they mean a Bang energy drink, which is owned by Monster.

There is no specific Monster Bang energy drink, but Monster Energy did buy the Bang Energy brand out of bankruptcy in 2023 and operates Bang as a distinct brand alongside its namesake Monster Energy drinks.

The Rodent in the Energy Drink Can Lawsuit

Teddy Soto says he has suffered physical and psychological damage from this episode and has sued, asking the court for damages in an unspecified amount.

The Philadelphia Inquirer says the lawsuit was filed this week in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, saying that Monster Energy manufactured and distributed a product that was “defective, contaminated, and unsafe for consumption.”

Wawa is a defendant in the case. Neither Monster Energy nor Wawa has responded to The Inquirer to comment.

In the lawsuit, Soto says Monster has been sued before by customers who found rodents in their cans. Monster responds that those allegations were a 'hoax', and that it would be impossible for a rodent to get sealed inside a can.

Monster says these allegations come up occasionally on social media and that Soto is being a copycat.

Soto's lawsuit attempts to preempt Monster from adopting “its typical defense", saying that Soto never left the can unattended, and he is prepared to “prove Monster’s responsibility for the failures that caused his injuries".