Tainted synthetic pot eyed as cause of another Illinois death
CHICAGO — As a Chicago convenience store owner accused of selling tainted synthetic pot was ordered to be held without bond Friday, authorities were investigating the possibility that a third death could be tied to an outbreak that has now sickened nearly 100 people in Illinois and continues to worsen.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office reported Friday that rat poison — an ingredient that has recently been identified in several instances of tainted synthetic marijuana that have turned up in central and northern Illinois — was found in the body of a 22-yearold man Chicago who died last month.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office did not release specific details of the Chicago man’s demise on March 28. But Oak Lawn police said Friday that they investigated the death that occurred on the same day of a 22-yearold Chicago man who, according to his family, recently had been smoking synthetic marijuana. The man was found at a hotel on Cicero Avenue in Oak Lawn, according to a police news release.
An autopsy revealed brodifacoum in the man’s system and showed excessive internal bleeding, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.
Brodifacoum is a rat poison. Health officials warned that poisoning by the ingredient causes severe bleeding that can be fatal or lead to symptoms that last for months, including unexplained bruising, bleeding in the brain and vomiting blood. Recent patient reports of severe bleeding led health officials to warn the public not to use any synthetic cannabinoid products.
“Brodifacoum is a highly lethal rodenticide and should not be consumed,” Dr. Ponni Arunkumar, Cook County’s chief medical examiner, said in a news release as the outbreak entered its second month.
As of Friday, Illinois Department of Public Health officials have received reports of 95 cases, including two deaths, linked to an outbreak of cases reporting use of fake pot products before suffering from severe bleeding since March 7.
According to federal prosecutors, as many as five people who have complained of urinating blood and other severe symptoms reported that they got sick after using illegal synthetic marijuana they had purchased at King Mini Mart in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood.
The owner of the convenience store, Fouad Masoud, 48, and two of his employees, Jamil Abdelrahman Jad Allah and Adil Khan Mohammed, were charged earlier this week with selling the synthetic pot branded with names that included “Blue Giant,” “Crazy Monkey” and “Matrix.”
State health officials have said that the product is also sold under names including “K2,” “Spice,” “Black Mamba,” “Bombay Blue,” “Genie” and “Zohai.”
The investigation into the mini-mart owner and employees began last week after Illinois State Police gave Chicago police information about someone who had experienced adverse side effects reportedly after using synthetic pot purchased at King Mini Mart. An undercover officer was sent into the store and bought synthetic pot that was later tested and found to contain rat poison, according to a criminal complaint.
In seeking to have Masoud detained pending trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Hernandez cited the number of people reportedly sickened from product Masoud sold.
Hernandez also argued that Masoud, a Jordanian national, was a risk of flight, telling U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Martin that when agents went to arrest him on Sunday night, he was leaving his Justice townhouse carrying a paper grocery bag filled with $344,000 in cash. Police searched his home and recovered 2,900 grams of suspected synthetic cannabis labeled “Purple Giant.”
After his arrest, Masoud tried to mislead court officials by claiming to be unemployed and denying that he owns the business, Hernandez said.
“That is a significant red flag,” the prosecutor said. “One has to wonder where all that money came from and what (he) was going to do with it.”
Masoud also has a 2006 federal conviction for selling contraband cigarettes in Indiana — a case that ended with a term of probation, Hernandez said.
Masoud’s lawyer, Michelle Truesdale, said Masoud has lived in the Chicago area for more than two decades and has a valid work visa.
He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.
He and his employees are charged with conspiracy to knowingly and intentionally possess with intent to distribute and to distribute a controlled substance. The charges could expand further when he is indicted.
As state health officials have continued to report daily upticks in the number of people reportedly sickened by the tainted synthetic marijuana, health officials emphasized the serious harm that can come from brodifacoum. The medical examiner’s office is also investigating another case involving a person who died after suffering similar bleeding. Toxicology testing is underway in that case, officials said.
Rat poison acts as a blood thinner and, “even without symptoms, the blood’s ability to clot is severely impaired and risk of bleeding is high,” said Dr. Jenny Lu, toxicologist and emergency medicine physician at Cook County Health & Hospitals System’s Stroger Hospital.