Arnoldo Bazan wanted revenge on the owner of Mi Ranchito. So he and his girlfriend, Yini De La Torre, poisoned the Lenexa Mexican restaurant's salsa and served it to customers.
Bazan, 31, pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to tamper with a
consumer product. He admitted that he was angry that he'd lost his job
at the restaurant, and he believed that the restaurant's owner was responsible for
costing
him a job at the Olathe Mi Ranchito (where he worked until June 27,
2009) and the theft of his vehicle.
Bazan, with the help of De La Torre, added a Methomyl-based
pesticide to salsa on two occasions and served it to patrons. A total
of 48 people fell ill after the August 2009 poisonings,
suffering nausea, abdominal
cramps, weakness, sweating and discomfort.
In July 2009, Mi Ranchito's
owner reported Bazan to Overland Park police for allegedly stalking him.
Prosecutors alleged that threats against the owner were issued through Mi Ranchito's website, saying
there would be trouble if Bazan's vehicle wasn't returned. This has to be one of the dumbest revenge plots every hatched.
Then on August 28, 2009, Bazan allegedly sent a threat through a family
member to the restaurant's owner that "the worst is yet to come."
Court documents indicate a possible rift between Bazan and De
La Torre. On September 8, 2009, Bazan allegedly warned De La Torre that
if she spoke with police,
she would be physically
harmed.
For poisoning the salsa at Mi Ranchito, De La Torre, 20, was sentenced to 87
months in federal prison. Bazan's sentencing is scheduled for June 28. He's looking at a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office says Mi Ranchito's
business took a huge hit following the poisoning, with sales at the
Lenexa restaurant declining about $250,000 in September and October
2009.
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The food at Mi Ranchito is excellent. This incident would have killed a lesser place.
Agreed. We may never know what the owner alegedly did to this guy. Not that it justifies poisoning people, but I do think it is important when deciding on whether I want to dine there or not.
If the owner truely has a history of mistreatment of his employees, why would I want to 1) subject myself to possible employee retaliation, and 2) contribute to the owner's bank account thereby ensuring that more employees will be mistreated.
Most likely is that this Bazan did not, and still does not, have the means to sue the owner for whatever the original spat was for. Bazan wrongfully resorted to poisoning the food and causing harm to innocent people. What Bazan did was reckless, but that does not mean that he was not wronged somehow to begin with.
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