A sailor from Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego, California, has been arrested and accused of trying to murder his wife by giving her doses of rat poison.

Electrician’s Mate 3rd Class Race Remington Uto, 27, was allegedly putting the heavy metal thallium into his wife’s food and drink. The extremely toxic pesticide was once used to kill rats and has since been banned in the United States, according to NBC 7 San Diego.

Eyebrows were raised in March when Uto’s wife was hospitalized and found to have an alarming amount of the chemical in her system, the report said.

A joint investigation by the FBI, Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the San Diego County Sheriff’s office quickly got underway.

“Because of the levels of thallium in the victim’s body, medical staff and investigators believed her exposure had been intentional,” San Diego County Sheriff’s Lt. Greg Rylaarsdam told the Ramona Patch.

A hazmat team found enough evidence in Uto’s home to take the sailor into custody, the report said.

Uto was arrested at Naval Medical Center San Diego on March 29 and is being held at the Vista Detention Facility on $2 million bail, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office. He’s expected to appear in court this week.

Uto’s wife remains hospitalized, according to most recent reports.

Jon Simkins is a writer and editor for Military Times, and a USMC veteran.

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