A woman was fed fake iron pills containing abortion medication over several weeks in a successful bid by her ex to end her pregnancy, according to police documents filed in a Massachusetts court.
Robert Kawada also allegedly gave the woman homemade cookies containing raspberry leaf, which is thought in homeopathic medicine to induce labor. The 43-year-old from Brookline appeared in Watertown District Court Tuesday to face charges of attempted poisoning and assault and battery.
Kawada was ordered held on $100,000 bail, which he was expected to pay. His lawyer offered limited comment outside of court, noting that a jury would have the chance to review the allegations.
The miscarriage was reported on May 2, when Watertown police and paramedics arrived at the woman's home after a night when she had bad cramping, then bloody discharge, according to a statement of probable cause from police included in court documents. Kawada was arrested Friday.
The woman told investigators she'd met Kawada on a dating app in January and they went on a few dates, during which they went to his home in Brookline and had consensual unprotected sex, according to the document.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.
Kawada broke up with her in early March, but she later realized she was pregnant and told him, according to the police statement. They messaged and then had several meetings over about six weeks; Kawada allegedly told the woman his mother recently died.
Over several meetings, the woman told investigators, Kawada gave her pills he said contained iron or vitamins and which he told her not to swallow but to hold between her cheeks and teeth to dissolve. The man checked inside her mouth, pulling on her cheeks, to make sure she'd taken the pills, police said.
According to the police document, investigators later found that white pills the woman had taken were consistent with misoprostol, which is commonly used in combination with the drug mifepristone to end pregnancies — both require a prescription.
At one meeting, Kawada also allegedly gave her the raspberry leaf cookies — police wrote in the probable cause statement it's often used "to try to soften a woman's cervix and start labor. It is therefore considered potentially dangerous in the first trimester as it could cause a miscarriage." After she ate one, the woman got cramps in her stomach and felt unwell.
The woman recalled Kawada saying his father was an OB-GYN doctor and would share details from his ex-wife's pregnancy while offering her assurances, according to the document. That information reassured her when she considered his behavior odd, though on one occasion she did save pills he told her to take, spitting them into a paper towel in an empty trash can in the bathroom.
The woman had occasional concerning pain, cramping and discharge, and Kawada asked for updates, including pictures, on how she was doing, according to the police statement. The baby's heartbeat was strong at a first checkup.
At later meetings, Kawada allegedly told the woman she'd lied about taking the pills he'd given her, about when she was ovulating while they were seeing each other, and that she'd set him up with the pregnancy. And at their last meeting, police said, the man told the woman the pregnancy had, in effect, killed his mother — she'd been angry about it and wanted the pair to get an abortion, which Kawada said he wanted, too. But the woman recalled saying she wanted to keep the baby and would raise it without his support or involvement.
Before that last meeting, the woman had gotten a call from what appeared to be a nurse from her health care provider, who said she should take iron. Kawada arrived to her house after the call, investigators wrote, and said he happened to have the pills she needed — she told investigators they were hexagonal with a line through them.
The purported nurse called back and said she should take two more of the pills, which Kawada happened to have, according to the statement. She said she felt cold, had chills and a swollen throat, which Kawada said he felt when he took the pills, too.
When the woman was having her miscarriage later that night, she called the phone number of the nurse who'd called her before, only to discover it was apparently fake. She reached out to her family, who called police — the woman shared with them a pill she'd saved from the trash can, which she'd placed in a Ziploc bag, and provided Kawada's name and number, according to the document. At a hospital, doctors confirmed her miscarriage.
When contacted by police that day, Kawada allegedly admitted to giving her "vitamin C and iron pills that I ordered off Amazon," according to the police document. Information from his phone indicated he'd called an online pharmacy that sells misoprostol on the same day she'd told him the baby's heartbeat was strong.
The phone information also indicated Kawada received phone calls from the same number as the purported nurse, including the morning before his last meeting with his ex, and that he searched phrases including, "misoprotol dissolved," "9 week aborted fetus pics" and "no reaction to misoprotol."
Asked about the case after Kawada's court appearance, his lawyer, Dmitry Lev, said, "We look forward to a full and complete investigation and a fair trial in front of our jury."
