A Santa Clarita couple is speaking out after their roommate allegedly poisoned them, leading to a confrontation with police officers on Tuesday. They said this happened after months of torture by the man.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office-Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, deputies responded to a home on Cedar Ridge Court on Tuesday after receiving a report of a suspected intoxication.
A couple called sheriff’s deputies after reviewing surveillance footage and seeing a roommate spraying what appeared to be Raid pesticide on their food. They discovered this after experiencing multiple illnesses and emergency room visits for chest and stomach pains.
Billy Sonhopper and her husband David said Timothy Bradbury, 42, had been tormenting them for months but they didn’t realize their lives were in danger until they saw surveillance footage.
The video shows the suspect, later identified as Bradbury, wearing a gas mask and spraying a can of blue Raid drink on groceries and produce in the shared kitchen, including the pantry.
David Sonhopper said he was told of liver damage during a recent emergency room visit, and medical professionals said they thought it might be poisoning based on his blood tests.
That’s what led the couple to check the cameras their landlord had installed in their home.
“In the video, we see that in addition to everything else he’s done in the year we’ve lived here, he’s spraying something – we’re not sure if it’s rat poison, wasp spray,” David Thornhope said.
“He sprayed stuff on our groceries — our fruits, vegetables, our coffee pot that we used every morning, and our entire pantry full of chips and cereal, all our canned goods and spices. Everything. He sprayed it on everything,” Billy Sandhope said.
In addition to the latest incident, the couple said Bradbury threw away their food and tore up their clothes.
“He set our house on fire. He put poison in our stuff. He destroyed our property. I had to buy a new car because he destroyed my old car,” David Thornhope said.
They noted that they had called law enforcement in the past but never obtained much evidence before discovering the new surveillance video.
When deputies arrived at the home on Tuesday, they attempted to make contact with Bradbury, but he retreated inside and refused to come out, deputies said.
Deputies learned Bradbury suffered from a mental health disorder and called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s psychiatric evaluation team to the scene.
After two hours of negotiations, Bradbury voluntarily left the home and was taken into custody, the Sheriff’s Department said. He was arrested for intentionally poisoning food, drink, medicine or water with intent to cause harm.
Video from the scene showed officers wearing gloves entering and exiting the home. At one point, an investigator pulled out a blue can of Raid that looked just like the one in the surveillance video.
The couple said the homeowner had been trying to evict Bradbury. After seeing the shocking video, they said they were terrified of what would happen next.
“Living with him for the past year has been hell. It’s been horrible,” David Thornhope said after Bradbury’s arrest. “We’re very worried about her health. And we’re just tired. We’ve been living under a lot of stress.”
“We don’t want to be in fear anymore. We’re tired of it. We just want to be safe,” said Billy Sandhope.
The couple added they hope the suspect gets the mental health support he needs.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
