Lenexa, KS – Two people were charged Thursday in federal court with poisoning salsa at a Lenexa, Kan., Mexican restaurant twice in August and making nearly 50 people sick.
Thirty-year-old Arnoldo Bazan and 19-year-old Yini De La Torre are accused of putting the pesticide Methomyl into salsa at Mi Ranchito restaurant to get back at the owner for Bazan losing his job and car.
Prosecutors say De La Torre put the poison into salsa on Aug. 10, and the next day 12 diners immediately became sick. She is accused of doing the same thing on Aug. 30, making 36 people ill.
Prosecutors say the husband and wife wanted the restaurant's owner to be blamed and suffer financial harm. Bazan worked there until June 27, while De La Torre's last day at the restaurant was Aug. 30.