| For Immediate Release Case # 08CF2918
November 4, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
MAN SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS IN PRISON FOR POISONING LIVE-IN HOUSEKEEPER TO
RENDER HER UNCONSCIOUS
SANTA ANA – A man was sentenced today to four years in state prison for poisoning his live-in housekeeper by putting sleeping pills in a bowl of ice cream in order to render her unconscious. James Scott Campbell, 68, Santa Ana, pleaded guilty today to one felony count each of poisoning and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Shortly after 9:00 p.m. on July 15, 2008, 48-year-old Jane Doe, a live-in housekeeper for Campbell, went to her bedroom. Campbell knocked on her bedroom door and offered the victim a bowl of coffee flavored ice cream. He had surreptitiously mixed Temazepam, a type of sleeping pill, into the ice cream to drug the victim and render her unconscious. After Campbell left the room, Jane Doe began to feel dizzy and disoriented. The victim became concerned because Campbell had made sexual comments to her in the past.
Jane Doe left the house and went to the hospital, where she was given a drug test that came back positive for Temazepam. The ice cream also tested positive for the same drug. The case was reported to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD), who found a bottle of prescription Temazepam, “sex fuel” pills, and several firearms in Campbell’s home. Campbell has a 1989 prior felony conviction for grand theft.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Mestman of the Sexual Assault Unit prosecuted this case.
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