Background: The University of Wisconsin-Madison Influenza Research Institute in Madison, Wis. (Google Maps). Inset: Makoto Kuroda (Dane County Sheriff's Office).
A Wisconsin man allegedly confessed to poisoning his co-worker after the victim got a second promotion that he was gunning for.
Makoto Kuroda, 41, was charged with recklessly endangering safety after police said he used laboratory chemicals to harm his colleague. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department said in a press release that officers responded to the university's Influenza Research Institute in Madison on April 7 after receiving a report about an "unknown odor" emanating from a location in an office. Items taken from the office tested positive for chemicals.
Police say that a few days later, Kuroda confessed to an attempt to poison one of his colleagues.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by local CBS affiliate WISC, Kuroda told police that he put chemicals from the institute's laboratory into a water bottle and a pair of shoes belonging to an unnamed co-worker, with whom Kuroda had worked since 2017.
Kuroda reportedly texted a co-worker after the alleged incident, "I did it. I have also informed the person himself."
Police say Kuroda readily confessed his involvement to police, who said the chemicals Kuroda used — paraformaldehyde and Trizol — were taken from his refrigerator at work. According to the complaint, Kuroda mixed the two chemicals together and put the mixture in each of his colleague's shoes. He allegedly put 0.5 milliliters of paraformaldehyde in his colleague's water bottle. Kuroda reportedly told police that 10 milliliters would be a lethal dose.
According to the complaint, Kuroda expressed several "pet peeves" with his colleague, namely how the colleague would not wear a lab coat or safety goggles. However, Kuroda reportedly told police that his primary motivation was his colleague's second promotion to a position that Kuroda wanted for himself.
Kuroda was arrested on April 10 and charged with recklessly endangering safety and tampering with household products. He is being held at the Dane County Public Safety Building Jail on $5,000 cash bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for April 21.
Online court records show that Kuroda has been banned from the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and its laboratories.