A 36-year-old Rosemead man was accused Sunday of giving a co-worker at a restaurant a THC-laced chocolate bar that sent her into marijuana-caused disorientation.
Duong Che allegedly dosed his co-worker with THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, which is responsible for the euphonic high found in cannabis, said Ventura County sheriff's Deputy Ehren Nehira.
After eating some of the chocolate bar, the 20-year-old woman had short breath, was confused and disoriented and was unable to continue her shift at the restaurant, in the 400 block of Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks, Nehira said.
Deputies were sent to the restaurant at about 10:40 a.m. March 12 on a report of a possible poisoning. The victim spoke with them and then was taken to a hospital by a family member, he said.
She told deputies that during her shift she was offered a portion of a chocolate bar by a co-worker, identified as Che.
"Based on the circumstances, it was determined that Che knowingly provided the victim an edible with the victim's knowledge that it contained the THC," he said.
On Wednesday, narcotics detectives were waiting for Che as he arrived to work at the restaurant in Thousand Oaks. They searched his vehicle and found a cannabis chocolate bar -- the same type of bar that he had given his co-worker.
News
Top news of the day
Detectives also found 70 ecstasy pills and more than $600. Fifty miles away at his home in Rosemead, they confiscated more than $4,300 that was believed to be profits from illegal drug sales.
Che was arrested for possession for sales of a controlled substance. He was booked into the Ventura Sheriff's Office East County Jail, where he posted bail that was set at $70,000.
He is scheduled to appear in court at 8:15 a.m. on April 27.
