Brandon Lau

Mayfield Heights police say Brandon Lau, 22, used a key to enter his ex-girlfriend's apartment, smeared cat feces on her clothing and poured rubbing alcohol into a bottle of vodka. The woman's new boyfriend was hospitalized when he later drank the concoction, police said.

(Mayfield Heights police)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 22-year-old Mayfield Heights man is accused of breaking into his ex-girlfriend's apartment, smearing cat feces on her belongings and pouring rubbing alcohol into a bottle of vodka.

The woman's current boyfriend drank the poisonous concoction days later, went into a day-long vomiting fit and was admitted into the emergency room at Hillcrest Hospital, where doctors discovered the poisoning, police say.

A grand jury has charged Brandon Lau with contaminating a substance for human consumption, a first-degree felony, along with felonious assault and burglary charges stemming from the early December incident at the woman's apartment off Som Center Road near Interstate 271.

Police arrested Lau at a relative's house on Christmas Eve. He was released on bond at his first appearance Dec. 27, according to court records. He is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 23 in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

The case against Lau is expected to hinge on cellphone and medical records. Lau's girlfriend had already thrown away the bottle of vodka by the time she reported the situation to police, leaving investigators no physical evidence to test for DNA or chemicals, according to Mayfield Heights police.

Lau and the woman dated for several months and lived together at the apartment from June until they broke up in November, police said.

Police say Lau, jilted by the split, used a key that he still had to go into the the apartment sometime around Dec. 1 when she wasn't home.

He emptied her cat's litter box and smeared cat feces on clothing and in the kitchen, police said. Then he diluted a bottle of Skyy vodka with rubbing alcohol and left, police said.

The couple drank the vodka on Dec. 4, and the boyfriend checked himself into Hillcrest Hospital after he spent more than a day vomiting, police said.

Doctors found his symptoms were from isopropyl alcohol poisoning, records say.

The girlfriend went to police the next day and showed them text messages where Lau admitted to going into the apartment, police said. Lau did not admit to poisoning the vodka, police said.

Lau sought treatment for undisclosed symptoms as detectives began to probe the incident, police said.

He later met with investigators. He told them that he used to spike his whiskey with rubbing alcohol to get drunk faster and thought the contaminated Skyy bottle might have been leftover from when he lived there, police said.

Police later obtained an arrest warrant charging Lau. He pleaded not guilty and was released after he posted $15,000 bond, police said.

Lau and his attorney Anthony Bondra declined to comment to cleveland.com.

A woman who answered a phone number listed on the police report hung up on a cleveland.com reporter Tuesday morning.

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