Yukai Yang placed heavy metal thallium in Juwan Royal's food, water and mouthwash
Law & Crime reports that a former college student in Pennsylvania has admitted to trying to poison his roommate.
Yukai Yang, 24, was a chemistry student at Lehigh University when he attempted to murder his African American roommate Juwan Royal in 2018.
Yang pleaded guilty to planting deadly heavy metal thallium in his roommate’s food, water, and mouthwash over several months.
The Chinese national student had previously been charged for vandalizing his dorm room with “N****r get out of here” but the charges were dropped in exchange for the guilty plea.
Prosecutors in 2018 claimed that Yang tried to avoid charges by turning himself over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation back to China.
Yang now faces 6 and 40 years in American prison and will be sentenced on 21 January. His bail was $200,000 to $2.5 million last year when he attempted to flee to the US to China.
Northampton County Deputy District Attorney Richard Pepper said Royal has spent two years in physical therapy due to neurological damage from the poison.
“Two and a half years later he’s still having neurological issues with his toes,” Pepper said.
In other news, a Chinese businessman paid $1.5 million in bribes to get his two sons into Harvard University.