Robert Kawada allegedly tricked his pregnant ex-girlfriend into taking what she thought were iron vitamins but were actually pills to cause an abortion. (WBTS/YouTube)
Authorities in Massachusetts arrested a man after he allegedly caused his pregnant ex-girlfriend to have a miscarriage by tricking her into taking abortion pills which he said were iron pills and vitamins.
The Middlesex District Attorney charged Robert Kawada, 43, of Brookline, with poisoning, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a pregnant person and assault and battery on a household or family member. According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, Kawada and the woman met on a dating app in January and began a relationship. The two had several dates where they had unprotected sex at his house.
In March, Kawada ended the relationship. But shortly thereafter, she learned she was pregnant. She told him she was pregnant with his baby, and the two began meeting to discuss plans. Kawada claimed to have knowledge about pregnancies because his ex-wife had a child, and his father was an OB-GYN. Once, Kawada gave her homemade raspberry leaf cookies, which are believed to induce labor and considered dangerous to eat during the first trimester because it could cause a miscarriage, police wrote.
The suspect would say she looked pale and inquire about her iron levels. Several times, Kawada gave her pills that he said were iron pills, the affidavit said. He allegedly would hold the pill between her cheeks and instruct her to let it dissolve as opposed to swallowing it. He also reportedly told her how often to take the pills. The woman told detectives with the Watertown Police Department that Kawada would pull on her cheeks to ensure she was ingesting the pills.
Once, she went to the bathroom, spit the pill out and saved others in a plastic bag. Kawada reportedly became angry when she told him she swallowed the pill. As she took the pills over several weeks, she had several painful cramps and bleeding. Kawada allegedly assured her everything was normal. She went to an OB-GYN appointment, and the doctor said the baby’s heartbeat was strong, and everything appeared normal.
Shortly before her and Kawada’s last meeting, the woman told detectives she received a call from a person who described themselves as a nurse who advised her she needed to take more iron. Kawada showed up and said he had some iron pills on him, and she took them, cops wrote. The nurse called again later that day and told her to take more of the iron pills, according to the affidavit.
Kawada also allegedly said his mother had died and claimed it was because she was upset about the pregnancy. He then told her he wanted her to have an abortion, the affidavit said. But she told him she wanted to have the baby and would raise the child by herself.
That night, she woke up with extreme cramps and felt a discharge. She told detectives she felt as though she was having a miscarriage. After discovering the nurse who called her wasn’t a nurse and came from an internet number, she contacted her family about the situation. They had her call Watertown police on May 2. Medical personnel took her to a hospital where doctors confirmed she had a miscarriage, the affidavit said.
The victim gave cops one of the pills Kawada allegedly gave her, along with his name and number. When police contacted him, he allegedly claimed he had given her iron pills and vitamins. But cops identified the pill he reportedly gave her as Misoprostol, which is used in combination with Mifepristone to end a pregnancy. Detectives allegedly found internet searches on Kawada’s phone about Misoprostol, “9 week aborted fetus pics” and “telephone voice changer.” They also discovered he ordered the abortion drugs via an online pharmacy, per the affidavit.
Police took Kawada to jail on Friday on a $100,000 bond.
Kawada’s attorney, Dmitry Lev, told Boston NBC affiliate WBTS that he looked forward to investigating the case and presenting the findings to a jury.
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