Posted on Fri, Nov. 06, 2009

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Feds charge two in poisoned-salsa case

By BRAD COOPER

Kansas City Star

Federal prosecutors have charged a Shawnee husband and wife with poisoning the salsa at the Mi Ranchito restaurant in Lenexa.

Arnoldo Bazan, 30, and Yini De La Torre, 19, are accused of mixing a pesticide into the salsa that sickened a dozen customers on Aug. 11 and 36 more customers on Aug. 30.

Bazan and De La Torre are charged with one count of conspiring to recklessly endanger other people by conspiring to tamper with a consumer product. They also are charged with two counts of tampering with a consumer product.

The husband and wife worked at Mi Ranchito until this summer. Prosecutors allege that Bazan blamed the restaurant's owner for losing his job and vehicle.

Federal prosecutors say Bazan and De La Torre crafted a plan to use the pesticide to poison customers, hoping that the restaurant owner would be blamed and be hurt financially.

Bazan and De La Torre are accused of mixing a Methomyl-based pesticide in the salsa. Methomyl is used to control spiders and ticks and is highly toxic to humans. It's used to treat vegetable, fruit and cotton crops, among other things.

The Environmental Protection Agency considers it a restricted-use pesticide, meaning it can only be purchased and used by certified workers.

Farm workers aren't supposed to go back into fields where it's been sprayed for up to a week, depending on the crop.

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