Yue Yu pleads not guilty to poisoning husband with Drano

Publish date: 2024-08-24

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California dermatologist Yue “Emily” Yu pleaded not guilty to charges that she tried to poison her husband after she was caught on camera pouring Drano into his tea.

The mother of two appeared before an Orange County, Calif. judge for a brief hearing on Thursday after a grand jury indicted her last month on three felony counts of poisoning and one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury.

Prosecutors allege Yu, 45, poisoned her husband’s lemonade tea while they were in the midst of a nasty divorce.

Yu’s husband noticed a “strange” taste in his drink and decided to set up a remote camera system in their kitchen.

For three days in July 2022, Yu was captured on video allegedly pouring liquid Drano into her husband’s drink after he left on a table, prosecutors said.

Yu’s husband, Jack Chen, took samples of the drink and turned it over to the cops. The FBI tested the samples and confirmed there was liquid cleaner in the drink, prosecutors said.

In court documents obtained by The Post, Chen complained of suffering from two stomach ulcers, esophagitis and gastritis shortly after he consumed the tea.

Yue “Emily” Yu appears before Judge Jonathan Fish in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif. on April 18, 2023. AP
Photos of suspect Yue Yu allegedly putting Drano in her husband’s drink. Snapshots are from video footage collected by husband Jack Chen, who set up a nanny cam in the kitchen that captured Yu allegedly putting Drano in his drink at least three times in July. Chen’s attorney said they suspect this had been going on for months. Photos courtesy of Steven G. Hittelman of the Hittelman Family Law Group.

Yu was arrested in August but is out on a $30,000 bond.

She faces a maximum sentence of eight years and eight months if convicted on all counts, prosecutors said.

A snapshot from video footage of suspect Yue Yu after she allegedly put Drano in her husband’s drink. Jack Chen told authorities he set up a nanny cam in the kitchen after he became sick. Chen alleges his estranged wife poisoned him with Drano for months. Photos courtesy of Steven G. Hittelman of the Hittelman Family Law Group.

Her divorce attorney, David Dworakowski, denied the allegations and said Yu’s estranged husband suffers from acid reflux.

Dworakowski also claimed that Yu used the Drano-tainted drink and added sugar to capture and kill ants in the kitchen.

Yu is expected to return to court on her criminal case on July 27.

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