One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
These Women Caught A Guy Drugging His Date's Drink At Fig In Santa Monica
Monica Kenyon, Sonia Ulrich, and Marla Saltzer (via Facebook)
A trio of women were at Fig in Santa Monica enjoying happy hour on Thursday when one of the crew saw a man pull out a vial, and drop something in his date's drink while she was in the bathroom. Sonia Ulrich, who told the tale in a Facebook post that went viral, then went to the bathroom to find the woman, and warn her about what they saw. She writes:
So, after feeling awkward hanging out by the sinks in the bathroom til she was done, I approached. "Hey! Um, this is kind of weird, but, uh, we saw the guy you were with put something in your drink." "Oh My God." She said. Shocked, kind of numb, so I babbled "Yeah, my girlfriend said she saw him put something in your drink and we had to say something. Woman to woman...you know. We had to say something. How well do you know that guy?" I was expecting to hear "We just met," but I got:
"He's one of my best friends."
He pulled her glass toward him, kind of awkwardly, then he took out a little black vial. He opened it up and dropped something in. Then he tried to play it cool, like checking his phone and hiding the vial in his hand and then trying to bring it back down slyly." He apparently saw Monica looking. Marla said she was just going to lean over to Monica and say "that guy is acting really creepy" when she saw Monica already looking. Witnessing
. As for the woman who might have been drugged, had these Ulrich, Saltzer, and Kenyon not intervened? She sat through another 40 minutes of the date with "one of her best friends"until they finished with dinner, and the police arrived.
Marla noticed him several times chinking his glass to hers to get her to drink. She played it cool. Mostly, I believed, just stunned. The staff wanted to jump in and dump the glass, dump him, do something! I was going through fantasies of walking up and demanding he drink the tainted glass of wine. Eventually, they finished up dinner. There was a delay getting their bill "The computer is down" is what the waiter kept saying to him. Then, in walks Santa Monica PD. They say "Come with us" and he doesn't protest. Doesn't ask why. Doesn't seem surprised.
Because the women notified the restaurant of what they'd seen, security was able to review surveillance footage, and saw that the man indeed put something in his date's drink. They also took the glass as evidence.
According to ABC-7, the Santa Monica Police Department said that the man was arrested, and was found with "multiple vials of a clear substance on him that has not yet been identified."
Sponsored message
The post concluded with Ulrich noting that the girl had parked her car at the man's apartment before they came to the restaurant together, which, as Jezebel noted, suggests another disgusting layer of premeditation.
Before the women left the restaurant, several patrons came by to commend them for taking action, saying that similar incidents had happened to people they knew, or themselves.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
