A California man has been arrested after allegedly filming himself poisoning eight homeless men by offering them food laced with a chemica...
A California man has been arrested after allegedly filming himself poisoning eight homeless men by offering them food laced with a chemical twice as strong as the pepper spray used by police.
William Robert Cable, 38, a handyman from San Andreas, was arrested on May 22 and has since been jailed on $500,000 bond.
According to a statement from the Orange County District Attorney's Office, the victims, all poisoned in the coastal town of Huntington Beach south of Los Angeles, had been tricked into ingesting oleoresin capsicum, a caustic chemical compound derived from hot chili peppers, from which the active ingredient in pepper spray is extracted.
William Cable, 38, has been accused of filming himself poisoning eight homeless people in the coastal town of Huntington Beach south of Los Angeles (Pictured: a homeless encampment in downtown LA)
Cable allegedly involved a child in the crimes and captured the poisonings on video for his own enjoyment, according to prosecutors.
'These human beings were preyed upon because they are vulnerable,' District Attorney Todd Spitzer stated. '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.'
Cable allegedly offered the victims food tainted with oleoresin capsicum, a chemical derived from peppers that is twice as strong as the pepper spray used by police
The victims survived but suffered a variety of severe reactions, including convulsions, breathing difficulty, vomiting, and intense mouth and stomach pain, according to the district attorney's office. Several required hospitalization.
The attacks spanned a little more than a week beginning in mid-May.
Many victims were unaware the food had been tampered with, while several were given other food and beer to entice them to eat the poison-spiked offerings, Spitzer said.
Some were told they were participating in a 'spicy food challenge' as part of the sick ruse, prosecutors said.
'The inhumane nature of the crimes combined with targeting a vulnerable population shocks the conscience,' said Huntington Beach Police Chief Robert Handy.
Cable was charged with eight counts of felony poisoning, one count of elder abuse and eight misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Cable is due back in court on July 15. If convicted, he could face up to 19 years in prison.
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