Bay Area woman poisoned by co-worker David Xu speaks out for 1st time after his felony conviction expunged by judge

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) — A Berkeley engineer whose co-worker was convicted of poisoning her is speaking publicly about the case for the first time after a court agreed to expunge his felony conviction despite objections from prosecutors.

Rong Yuan said she spent years trying to understand a series of unexplained health problems starting in 2017, including vomiting and hair loss, before discovering what she says was happening at her workplace.

“Shocked. I don’t know why,” Yuan said when asked what she thought after reviewing video she recorded.

For more than two years, she sought answers from countless doctors, but her condition continued to worsen.

The breakthrough came after her mother noticed an unusual smell coming from her water bottle. When cleaning it did not solve the problem, Yuan decided to install a small camera at her desk.

“I never expected that I can capture anybody. It’s a just an engineer’s routine. If you have some issue, you think about the root cause,” Yuan said.

The camera captured a co-worker, David Xu, pouring a substance into her water bottle.

Testing later identified the substance as cadmium, a toxic chemical.

A sample of the water was found to contain cadmium levels 3.5 million times the federal level, according to the report reviewed by ABC7 Eyewitness News.

Yuan and her parents all tested positive for cadmium poisoning.

Yuan says that’s likely because they used water from the same bottle to cook.

Xu was charged with premeditated attempted murder in 2019.

In a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to poisoning and received two years of probation.

“I don’t think he deserves a second chance. A second chance for a lot to hurt other people, to make other people turning into victims,” Yuan said.

On October 12, a judge granted Xu’s request to have his felony conviction expunged.

Yuan said she still does not know why Xu targeted her.

She recalled instances when he discouraged her from working in the lab and suggested she pursue other jobs.

“Why do I talk to him? He’s a nobody. He’s a coward,” she said when asked what she would want to say to him, “Poisoning is not something like you suddenly got angry and lose control. It’s planned.”

Yuan also said the poisoning affected her family.

She said she feels guilty that the poisoned water made it back to her house.

“If I don’t ask you to come to the U.S., they will be poisoned. If I don’t bring the water back home, they won’t be poisoned,” Yuan said.

Her father died last year from heart failure.

Yuan said she decided to speak publicly in part because of him.

“To come out of my comfort zone, to be interviewed about you, to tell the public what kind of effect it had on my family and how broken the system is,” she said.

Almost ten years after, Yuan said she continues to experience health issues after ingesting the chemical for more than a year and is able to work only part time.

She said she requested $500,000 in restitution, but received $7,000.

While she says she is still dealing with the effects of the poisoning, Yuan said she has little choice but to move forward as she continues to question the court’s decision to clear her former co-worker’s record.

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