A Bay Area engineer caught his colleague poisoning his water bottle with a cancer-causing heavy metal on a hidden camera. Nearly eight years later, the man convicted of poisoning her wants his criminal record expunged.
David Xu, 41, was scheduled to appear in Alameda County Superior Court on Monday, Oct. 12, after serving two years of probation in March, according to KGO-TV. His former colleague, Rong Yuan, 50, released surveillance footage of Xu poisoning his water bottle as part of his efforts to oppose his petition.
The video shows Xu entering Yuan’s office at Berkeley Engineering and Research on March 4, 2019, pouring liquid into his bottle and returning to reposition it. Both worked as metallurgists at the company and both earned their doctorates at UC Berkeley. Yuan had installed the camera near his desk after nearly two years of unexplained illness, including persistent vomiting, hair loss and repeated visits to the hospital.
Berkeley police tested Yuan’s water and found extraordinarily high concentrations of cadmium, a toxic heavy metal. One sample contained cadmium at about 3.5 million times the federal limit for drinking water, according to lab results reviewed by the San Francisco Standard. Blood tests also revealed high levels of cadmium in Yuan and her parents, who had consumed water she brought home from work.
According to Alameda County Superior Court records reviewed by SFGATE, Xu was arrested at his Lafayette home in March 2019 and charged with attempted premeditated murder and two counts of poisoning. He pleaded no contest to one count of poisoning in September 2023 as part of a deal offered by former Alameda County Prosecutor Pamela Price’s office. The other charges were dismissed.
At his sentencing in March 2024, Judge Kimberly Colwell increased Xu’s probation from the originally negotiated one year to two years. She called the deal “extremely generous, considering everything that’s going on in this case,” according to the Standard.
“Please don’t touch any poison. Ever. Ever,” Colwell told Xu.
Alameda County Superior Court records reviewed by SFGATE show Xu received credit for one day of jail time and the imposition of his sentence was stayed.
Yuan says the poisoning caused lasting health problems that prevented her from working full time. In a research paper published October 8, she documented seven years of medical complications affecting herself and her parents.
Yuan told the Standard she feared the dismissal would prevent future employers from finding out about Xu’s conviction. She planned to attend Monday’s hearing to oppose his motion.
“This legal system has failed me before,” Yuan said. “This is my last resort.”
SFGATE contacted Alameda County Prosecutor Ursula Jones Dickson’s office but did not receive a response prior to publication. Price was recalled as DA by Alameda County voters in 2024.
Gn usa
