After conducting investigations into two Bay Area care homes where three elderly residents died from ingesting cleaning solution last summer, the California Department of Social Services (DSS) has moved to revoke the license of Atria Park in San Mateo.

The facility is an assisted living and memory care facility on the border of San Mateo and Foster City, owned by parent company Atria Senior Living that manages more than 340 independent living, assisted living, supportive living, and memory care facilities in 44 states.

But the troubled facility saw two preventable and high-profile deaths due to poisioning last summer. According to the report from the DSS investigation released in April, as reported by ABC7, an employee left a full beverage pitcher containing dishwasher soap on the kitchen counter next to the sink at the San Mateo facility — unmarked.

Apparently, employees usually ordered 1-gallon containers of the soap, which fit inside the dishwashing machine, but had recently received 5-gallon containers. Staff members would reportedly pour the excess soap into a pitcher in the kitchen, but one employee mistook the unlabelled liquor for juice and poured it into three glasses for residents. Three elderly residents drank it and immediately became ill.

According to ABC7, the report said that "upon being served, [one resident’s] lips began to swell and was black and red in color, and [another] yelled after drinking out of the juice cup and then sat down."

Staff realized the mistake and called 911, but of the three elderly residents drank it, two died, while one suffered injuries.

The investigation also found that the facility had 12 complaints alleging staff negligence before the dishwasher soap incident.

And in another similar incident last summer just four days later, a resident at another facility in Walnut Creek owned by the same parent company Atria also apparently drank cleaning solution and later died. A 94-year-old resident with dementia reportedly wandered unsupervised into the kitchen and drank cleaning liquid, and died eight days later after suffering injuries to his stomach, esophagus, and part of his throat. An employee at the facility is facing one count of felony elder abuse related to his death, as someone was supposed to be with the resident at all times.

The case against the San Mateo facility is still pending, as counsel has appealed the decision. The facility remains open during this process — but the victims' families have publicly called for accountability.

RELATED: Senior Care Worker Charged With Elder Abuse After 94-Year-Old Man Dies From Drinking Cleaning Fluid [SFist]

Feature image of Atria Park San Mateo via Google Street View.

Neighbors of Duboce Park are sharing concerns via social media today that poisoned meatballs have been discovered in the popular dog park, and that one dog may have already died as a result. If confirmed, this would not be the first time that a park frequented by pet owners has been targeted — poisoned meatballs were discovered around Twin Peaks both in 2013 and 2014 — leading to the death of at least one dog.

SFist reached out to Animal Care and Control Captain Denise BonGiovanni to determine if any meatballs had actually been discovered on the ground. BonGiovanni, who investigated both the 2013 and 2014 cases, informed SFist that her offices "are getting third-hand information that there may have been a poisoning, and we're trying to reach the owner [of the allegedly sickened dog] now."

BonGiovanni told SFist that although it had not been proven conclusively, the 2013 and 2014 cases appeared to be the work of the same individual, and that it was likely rat poison stuffed inside the meatballs. No one has been apprehended in either of those cases.

A tipster sent SFist the below screengrab of a conversation on social media app NextDoor (we blocked out the names of the people), which suggests that at least one dog may have already died from eating poisoned meatballs found in Duboce Park.

Again, it should be noted that at this time the reports are still unconfirmed, but with the stakes for animals lovers and their pets so high we thought it important to bring you this news. We'll update this post when more information becomes available.

Related: Oskar The Dachsund Dies From Meatball Poisoning

On Friday morning additional documents related to the federal case against Ryan Chamberlain were unsealed. According to the search warrant, the FBI claims Chamberlain bought lethal toxins through black market websites and had them shipped to his Russian Hill apartment.

The affidavit accompanying the search warrant (embedded below) lays out the details that put the FBI, as well as the ATF and Department of Homeland Security onto Chamberlain in the first place. According to the text, Chamberlain was using an anonymous, Internet marketplace known as "Black Market Reloaded" to buy biological agents and lethal toxins such as abrin, ricin and pure nicotine from sellers in California and Florida. Homeland Security has been looking into Black Market Reloaded since at least April 2013, and the warrant compares the site to a Darknet version of eBay or Amazon that is only accessible through the anonymous Tor network and takes payment via Bitcoin held in escrow.

The FBI also claims a Black Market Reloaded seller, identified only as "Witness 2" shipped toxins from a UPS store in Vacaville, California to two people: an anonymous witness in New York who claimed they purchased the poison to commit suicide and a recipient named Ryan Kelly, who happened to share an address with the suspect Ryan Kelly Chamberlain II at Polk and Jackson Streets. The suspect "Kelly" told Witness 2 he wanted to buy the poison to help suffering cancer patients and Witness 2 agreed to sell him a quantity of abrin for $250. Witness 2, however, got spooked when the suspect started asking whether abrin would show up on an autopsy.

Instead of sending the pure abrin, Witness two sent two vials of "ground rosary peas" —the plant from which abrin is made— in a powder "ground finely enough to be aerosolized." According to an FBI lab, the powder contained enough abrin to kill hundreds of people, but would require further work on the suspect's part to purify it into a toxin. The vials were shipped inside of two small Harbor Freight flashlights with the batteries removed. The suspect later contacted Witness 2 to complain that the poison did not work and the two cut off communication.

Finally, a separate Homeland Security and FBI investigation turned up a Florida resident, identified as Witness 3, selling ricin, abrin and hallucinogenic mushrooms on Black Market Reloaded. Witness 3 was busted in January 2014. On Witness 3's laptop, the FBI found a shipping label made out to Ryan Kelly at Chamberlain's Polk Street address and shipped on June 26th, 2013. Witness 3 testified that he had extracted pure nicotine from nicotine patches and sent it to Chamberlain's address hidden inside a VHS cassette case. The suspect even left feedback on Witness 3's Black Market Reloaded page.

Although Ryan Chamberlain is currently charged with possession of an illegal destructive device, none of the documents refer to an explosive. Because it was issued before the search, it also does not mention the alleged bomb-making materials found in a messenger bag at Chamberlain's apartment.

Earlier today, Chamberlain's attorney Jodi Linker requested her client be transferred to a lockdown mental health facility at San Francisco General Hospital. Chamberlain, who has no history of mental health treatment or use of drugs to treat mental illness, has been ordered to get a psych evaluation, but Judge Cousins denied Linker's request for a transfer today. Chamberlain remains in custody at the San Francisco Hall of Justice. According to the Weekly, Linker told Judge Cousins today that she does not intend to enter a plea for her client anytime soon.

Redacted Crim Comp Chamberlain by Justin Perez

Previously: All Ryan Chamberlain coverage on SFist
[NBC Bay Area]
[SFWeekly]
[CBS5]

It's either a far-reaching conspiracy, or one very industrious (and creepy) dog-hater: the person(s) responsible for the trail of poisoned meatballs is still at large and has been hitting neighborhoods across the city. So far, three dogs have been taken to the vet after eating the poisoned meat, including 7-year-old dachshund Oskar, who is on a ventilator for what vets suspect is strychnine poisoning.

The Glen Park/Twin Peaks/Diamond Heights area was the first to be hit with the cooked meatballs, but new reports have pinpointed meatballs in the Lower Haight, Cole Valley, Hayes Valley and Bernal Heights. According to police, hundreds of the tainted meatballs have been collected off of sidewalks, but police have no suspects thus far.

Here's what the nasty things look like:

Vets suspect that the meatballs are tainted with strychnine, a rodent poison. Strychnine is a highly toxic poison which causes seizures and muscle spasms 10 to 120 minutes after ingestion. Oskar the dachshund is expected to survive his ordeal, although the veterinary bills for his owner are reported to be as high as $26,000.

Animal Internal Medicine and Specialty Services says that Oskar is recovering:

Oskar is getting stronger today. His lungs are improving and we are working to get him off the ventilator. The criticalists anticipate it will be another day or so before he is 100% ready to breathe on his own, but he's taking baby steps in the right direction.

Get well soon, Oskar.

Dog owners should be on alert for the meatballs, and should bring their pet to the nearest vet or animal care facility as soon as possible if you suspect they may have ingested them.

If you have any information about the meatball poisoner, call the Police Department’s anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444.

Previously: Warning To Dog Owners About Poisonous Meatballs Found In Twin Peaks

[Examiner]
[Hayeswire]

Is nothing sacred? San Jose resident Robert Lewis Lochbridge, 67, sits in the clink today after allegedly spiking his 63-year-old girlfriend's Vitaminwater with chlorine while she was at a nursing home in San Rafael. According to Marin Independent Journal, "Lochbridge was booked into Marin County Jail this weekend and held on $500,000 bail after attendants at the Northgate Care Center...became alarmed at bottles of water he had brought for an ailing woman who resides there."

Nursing home staff said the popular sugary water Lochbridge brought in "didn't smell right" and "smelled like chlorine." Marin IJ has more:

"The preliminary tests indicate a level of chlorine in one bottle that was higher than you find in a swimming pool," [San Rafael police spokeswoman Margo Rohrbacher] said. More tests will be conducted on samples of the water.

"He was telling her it was vitamin and mineral water to make her better," Rohrbacher said, adding the woman was instructed to drink four ounces of the concoction every hour in a routine that apparently started several weeks ago. "He told her it would be good for her."

As we now know, Vitaminwater, a (rather tasty) product of the Coca-Cola Company, is nothing more than Kool-Aid playing dress up. Anyway, Lochbridge was allegedly was trying to control his (ex)girlfriend's finances. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, poisoning or adulterating food and drink, and cruelty to a dependent adult.

Lochbridge is due in court on Tuesday at Marin County Superior Court.

[Marin IJ]

Kibbles and Bits? Yes. Chocolate? No. Their own excrement? Yes, sadly. Avocados? Sadly, no. Find out what you cannot feed your pooch via this handy graphic care of Hella Wella. An especially relevant chart considering that, in these modern artisanal times, some of you cook organic meals for your pets. Bone appetit!

A family of three is hospitalized and in serious condition at California Pacific Medical Center after eating "death cap" mushrooms that they found growing in the wild. Let this be a reminder to all of you out there that no wild mushroom in Northern California is a good wild mushroom. Unless it's a free chanterelle in the Presidio.

Cover your cups of coffee and tea. Ben Chun Liu, the UCSF urology researcher who allegedly poisoned his colleague because he was "stressed," is free today. A San Francisco judge ordered him free while lab tests continue. Liu is awaiting trial for attempting to murder his coworker, Mei Cao, 44, by adding a hint of ethidium bromide into her drinking cup at her work station. He must return to court on December 18.

Does this mean Oh noes! Be careful! We have poison on our grass and don't want your dog to get hurt? Or does it mean, Your dog craps on our lawn, and we're going to murder it? We prefer to think it's the former. Although the above photo was snapped in the Marina, so... it's anyone's guess.