Man receives 2 years of probation for poisoning co-worker's water bottle: news

California Engineer Receives 2 Years of Probation for Poisoning Co-Worker’s Water Bottle

A California engineer caught on hidden-camera footage tampering with a colleague’s drink received two years of probation after pleading no contest to a felony poisoning charge.

Workplace Poisoning Investigation and Hidden-Camera Evidence

David Xu, a metallurgist employed at Berkeley Engineering and Research (BEAR), was arrested in March 2019 following an investigation into unexplained illnesses suffered by his colleague, Rong Yuan. After experiencing chronic vomiting, hair loss, and severe health complications for roughly 18 months, Yuan installed a concealed surveillance camera at her office desk. The recordings captured Xu approaching her desk and pouring toxic substances into her water bottle on multiple occasions.

Laboratory testing revealed that the water bottle contained dangerous concentrations of cadmiuma toxic heavy metal and known carcinogenmeasuring up to 3.5 million times higher than federal drinking water limits. Blood tests confirmed elevated cadmium levels in Yuan and her visiting parents, who had inadvertently consumed water from the same container.

Plea Agreement, Sentencing, and Legal Aftermath

Although initially charged with attempted murder and multiple counts of poisoning, prosecutors entered into a plea agreement in which the attempted murder charges were dropped. Xu pleaded no contest to a single felony count of poisoning.

At his sentencing in Alameda County Superior Court, Judge Kimberly Colwell described the plea agreement as “extremely generous, considering everything in this case” and increased his supervised probation term from the negotiated one year to two years, while giving credit for one day served in jail.

Xu completed the required terms of his probation in 2026 and petitioned the court for post-conviction dismissal under California expungement laws, drawing public concern and opposition from the victim over workplace safety and public record transparency.