NYC woman charged with serving poison cheesecake, stealing I.D., property
02/28/2018 1:08 pm PST
NEW YORK -- (CWD) --
A grand jury in Queens, New York indicted Victoria Nasyrova for attempted murder and burglary for allegedly poisoning a woman with cheesecake and stealing her property and identification, the Queens District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday.
The victim resembled the defendant, according to the D.A.'s Office, and Nasyrova allegedly served the woman the cheesecake "laced with a Russian drug" in August 2016. The victim, a woman from Queens, survived the poisoning.
Victoria Nasyrova, 42, of Voorhies Avenue in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn was arraigned on a 10-count indictment charging her with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree burglary, first-degree attempted assault, second-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree unlawful imprisonment, third-degree grand larceny, petit larceny and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, the D.A.'s Office said. Nasyrova was arraigned Tuesday before Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Peter Vallone Jr., who ordered the defendant held without bail. Nasyrova's next court date is May 25, 2018. If convicted, the defendant faces up to 25 years in prison.
The defendant is alleged to have visited the victim of the woman, who was 35 at the time, offering the cheesecake as a gift. The two women resemble one another, according to the D.A., and both speak Russian. The victim ate the dessert, felt sick and laid down, the D.A. said, and passed out with the defendant sitting beside her. A friend of the victim found the victim unconscious the next day; the victim was in bed, dressed in lingerie, and there were "pills scattered around her body - as if the woman had attempted to kill herself," the D.A.'s Office said. The victim was hospitalized and survived.
According to the indictment, the victim found her passport, employment authorization card, a gold ring and cash were missing from her residence after she returned home.
The cheesecake, still in its container, was tested by law enforcement agents and found to contain phenazepam; the FBI tested the pills and confirmed they were also phenazepam.