Man admits to conspiring with wife to poison salsa at Lenexa restaurant

KANSAS CITY, Kansas - A 31-year-old northeast Kansas man has pleaded guilty to scheming with his wife to poison salsa at a Mexican restaurant after losing his job.

Arnoldo Bazan, of Shawnee, admitted Tuesday in federal court he was angry about losing his job in June 2009 at Mi Ranchito in Olathe.

Prosecutors say he and his wife, Yini de la Torre, devised a plan to get revenge by putting pesticide in the salsa at a Mi Ranchito in nearby Lenexa where the wife was a waitress.

A dozen diners became ill after eating lunch on Aug. 11, 2009. The second incident, about three weeks later, sickened 36 dinner patrons.

De la Torre pleaded guilty earlier and was sentenced to 87 months in prison . Bazan faces up to 10 years when he's sentenced June 28.