Hackensack Woman Accused of Drugging Acquaintance's Tea at Fort Lee Meeting About Her Bank Accounts

It was supposed to be a sit-down about money. A Leonia resident went to a Fort Lee restaurant on Tuesday, Sept. 8, to talk through activity she hadn't authorized in her bank accounts. By the time she tried to leave, she was collapsing, prosecutors say.

The person across the table was Rohweniven Bacani, 52, of Hackensack, who had shared access to those accounts, according to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. Detectives determined that Bacani got there first and had a cup of tea waiting. The woman drank some of it, noticed an unusual taste and stopped.

She went down on her way out of the restaurant and woke up in a hospital with no idea how she had gotten there, the prosecutor's office said. Investigators allege the tea had been spiked with a benzodiazepine, a controlled sedative. In other words, the person she came to question about her money is the one prosecutors now accuse of putting a drug in her drink. She spent several days in the hospital and is recovering, officials said.

Leonia police learned about the case on Sept. 11, while the woman was still being treated, and brought in the prosecutor's Major Crimes Unit and Robbery-Homicide Division. After a weeks-long investigation, Bacani was charged on Oct. 14 with third-degree aggravated assault. Detectives arrested her the next day outside her Hackensack home, and she was taken to the Bergen County Jail, prosecutors said. Fort Lee police and the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office assisted.

Bacani is awaiting a first appearance in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack; no date was announced. The prosecutor's announcement did not say whether the banking activity that set up the meeting is part of any separate case. Prosecutor Mark Musella said the charge is only an accusation, and Bacani is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Source: Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.