Poisoning Suspect Also Faces Charge in Bomb Threat

A woman charged with trying to fatally poison her 78-year-old step-grandfather in December while he lay in his hospital bed is also accused of threatening to bomb the home of another family member on Christmas Eve, court records show.

Sindi Samantha Del Tour was originally scheduled to appear in a Bakersfield courtroom Wednesday to enter a plea on charges stemming from a menacing message she allegedly left on the answering machine of Gene Brown, who is related to the defendant through marriage.

According to a police report, the message said, “I put a bomb in your house and you’ll never find it.”

Del Tour was arrested Dec. 28 at her Oildale home by Bakersfield police in connection with the call. Her arraignment on that charge was postponed because she is in custody in Ventura County for allegedly trying to inject an overdose of benzodiazepines, a Valium derivative, into her step-grandfather, Harley Hartung.

As a result of the Bakersfield case, however, Ventura County Deputy Dist. Atty. Audry Rohn has requested a bail increase for Del Tour, maintaining that she is a danger not only to her step-grandfather but also to other family members.

Rohn is prepared to ask the court at a hearing Thursday to raise Del Tour’s bail from $250,000 to $500,000.

Authorities allege that Del Tour began attacks against her family after she lost a battle to gain conservatorship over Hartung, whose estate is worth an estimated $500,000, according to court records.

Del Tour’s half-siblings also sought conservatorship, but in 1997 a judge instead appointed a professional conservator, Sarah Hardcastle, to oversee Hartung’s affairs.

“Since that time, Del Tour has been harassing [Brown] and his family,” according to a police report.

Brown, 52, told authorities Del Tour had become a nuisance to his family, often calling his home and hanging up, and ordering magazine subscriptions to be sent to his residence. She also allegedly made threatening statements to Brown in the past, warning “he’ll get his” and that he “better watch out,” the police report stated.

But the most serious charges against Del Tour--a 41-year-old personal trainer--involve alleged attempts to kill Hartung.

Authorities said Del Tour was a frequent visitor at Hartung’s Simi Valley home. Del Tour is undergoing cancer treatment at UCLA and would drive to Hartung’s house after her doctor’s appointments, authorities said.

But police said the purpose of Del Tour’s visits was not just to spend time with the elderly man. During her visits, Del Tour allegedly convinced Hartung to withdraw about $40,000 from his bank account and open credit card accounts under both of their names, court papers said.

Because Hartung’s memory often fails him, he couldn’t remember such incidents, authorities said. The activity was discovered after Hardcastle took over as Hartung’s court-appointed conservator.

Hartung refused to press charges against his granddaughter.

“Hartung did not care if Del Tour took the money fraudulently and would not have prosecuted her due to his love for her,” according to court papers.

Del Tour continued to visit Hartung regularly and without incident until Dec. 14. Hartung’s live-in caretaker, Maria Lopez, was summoned out of her room by Del Tour just before midnight, according to court documents. Hartung had fallen asleep on the couch, and Del Tour and Lopez carried Hartung to bed.

When he failed to wake up by 9:30 a.m. the next day, Lopez and Del Tour took him to Simi Valley Hospital, where Hartung, disoriented and trembling, was admitted.

A urine sample showed that Hartung, who was not on any prescribed medication, tested positive for benzodiazepines, according to court records.

While Hartung struggled to recover into the next day, Del Tour was at his bedside, helping the weakened man eat his dinner, reports said.

But a nurse reportedly became suspicious of Del Tour after she walked into Hartung’s room and the granddaughter appeared startled. An alarm on Hartung’s IV pump suddenly went off, the reports said.

“Is he OK, is he OK?” Del Tour demanded from the nurse, court records said.

The nurse noticed about a 6-inch strip of a bluish-tinged fluid in Hartung’s IV tube. She turned off the pump and advised Del Tour not to touch anything, records show.

The nurse later returned with a doctor and discovered the pump had been turned back on. Del Tour said yes, she was the one who turned the pump back on but couldn’t explain why, according to court documents.

Soon afterward, Hartung’s blood pressure plunged and he remained unstable for almost 24 hours, records show. He would later make a full recovery.

An analysis of Hartung’s IV revealed the blue liquid was the same Valium derivative found in his urine sample. Hospital officials called the police.

In an interview with detectives, Del Tour tried to explain why she turned the IV pump back on.

“If everything was turned off, he needed that stuff that was going in him,” she said. “I’m not real good in hospitals.”

During a search of Del Tour’s home, detectives seized an accidental-death life insurance policy in the name of Hartung that listed Del Tour as beneficiary, a copy of a page from Hartung’s will and several bills that were marked past due. They also found syringes and several prescriptions for Valium.

Del Tour was arrested on Jan. 27. and charged with attempted murder, poisoning and elder abuse.