Arnoldo Bazan's half-baked revenge plot on the owner of Mi Ranchito has ended with Bazan going to federal prison for 10 years.
Bazan hatched a plot with his girlfriend, Yini De La Torre, who was a waitress at the restaurant, to poison the salsa at the Lenexa Mexican
restaurant and serve it to customers. Bazan, with De La Torre's help, added a Methomyl-based
pesticide to salsa on two occasions and served it to customers. A total
of 48 people fell ill after the August 2009 poisonings,
suffering nausea, abdominal
cramps, weakness, sweating and discomfort.
Some were hospitalized, and the victims ranged in age from children to senior citizens.
pleaded guilty 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.
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 ever hatched.
Then on August 28, 2009, Bazan 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 was
sentenced to 87
months in federal prison.
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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