A 38-year-old man has been charged with poisoning eight homeless people in Huntington Beach and videotaping their reactions to the laced food, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced on Thursday.
William Robert Cable of San Andreas is facing eight felony charges of poisoning and inflicting injury, a ninth because one victim was elderly, and eight misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Prosecutors accuse him of persuading the homeless individuals to eat food laced with oleoresin capsicum, which authorities say is twice as strong as the pepper spray used by police.
Some were told they were taking part in a “spicy food challenge,” prosecutors said. Many were unaware the food had been tampered with, prosecutors said, and some were given other food and beer in order to entice them into eating the poisoned food.
“These human beings were preyed upon because they are vulnerable,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “They were exploited and poisoned as part of a twisted form of entertainment, and their pain was recorded so that it could be relived by their attacker over and over again.”
Some of the victims reacted with seizure-like symptoms, others with difficulty breathing, vomiting and intense mouth and stomach pain, prosecutors said. Several were hospitalized.
Authorities said they believe the poisonings began in mid-May. Cable was arrested on May 22 and being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Authorities alluded to a juvenile being involved. What role that minor played and any relationship with Cable were not spelled out by prosecutors. The youth had not been charged.
“The inhumane nature of the crimes combined with targeting a vulnerable population shocks the conscience,” said Huntington Beach Police Chief Robert Handy in a statement.
“The fact an adult criminal would involve a juvenile is even more reprehensible,” the chief said. “I am proud of the extraordinary effort put into solving this case by our police officers, detectives and also our firefighters who reported suspicious circumstances from observations while treating the victims.”
Authorities previously indicated that the attacks were random but clearly targeted the homeless. On Thursday, law enforcement officials said they are asking the public’s help in locating any additional victims or possible suspects.
If convicted, Cable faces up to 19 years and three months in prison. There is no indication he planned to publicly share or sell the video footage, prosecutors said.
