Video shows Berkeley engineer putting cadmium in colleague's water; he seeks to clear record

Mixed · 2Video from a hidden camera shows David Xu, a metallurgist at Berkeley Engineering and Research (BEAR), putting the toxic heavy metal cadmium into the water bottle of his colleague Rong Yuan. 1 2 Left · 1Yuan set up the camera at her desk after months of illness. The Independent says the footage also shows Xu leaving quickly and briefly returning to adjust the position of her container. It reports she lost hair, missed work from vomiting, and noticed that her sickness often followed drinking from her bottle. 2 Mixed · 2The New York Post, citing The San Francisco Standard, says Xu spiked Yuan's food and water for nearly 18 months between 2017 and 2019. The Independent says Yuan became increasingly ill over a two-year period beginning in 2017, and that she caught Xu in two incidents, in February and March 2019. The Post adds that Yuan's parents inadvertently drank the poisoned water. 1 2

Right · 1Xu was arrested in March 2019. The Post says the charges were attempted murder and poisoning, and that he was released on $2 million bail with home-confinement conditions that were later loosened until his travel restrictions were fully lifted. 1 Mixed · 2Under a plea deal in 2023, the attempted murder charge was dropped and Xu pleaded no contest to one felony count of poisoning. The Independent dates the conviction to September 2023 and says a second poisoning count was also dropped. The Post says the deal was offered by then-Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price. Xu received two years of probation and, according to the Post, credit for a single day in jail. 1 2 Right · 1Yuan had sought nearly $500,000 in restitution, but the Post says Xu was ordered to pay $7,058. 1

Mixed · 2Xu finished probation in March 2026 and is asking the court to dismiss the felony conviction under California's expungement law. Both outlets say completing probation allows such a petition, and the Post says judges are bound to grant dismissals when every probation term is met. The Independent says Xu was due in Alameda County Superior Court on 12 October and that, according to The Standard, the district attorney's office has objected. 1 2 Left · 1Yuan told The Standard that watching the video made her 'blood frozen' and that she 'almost died'. She fears a dismissal would hide the conviction from future employers, calling this her 'last resort'. The Independent also reports a lab report, reviewed by The Standard, found cadmium in samples from her bottle at up to 3.5 million times the federal drinking-water limit. 2 Mixed · 2While Yuan was ill, the Post says, Xu suggested the cause was mould in the office. When she emailed colleagues on 27 November 2018 to report severe vomiting, he replied that she should work from home and that he thought BEAR was 'moldy'. 1 2