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Woman Accused Of Poisoning Friend With Cheesecake In Identity Theft Plot

The suspect, wanted for murder in Russia, targeted a woman who looked like her and spoke Russian, authorities said.

A woman in New York was charged with attempted murder after police said she attempted kill a friend with poisoned cheesecake and steal her identity.

Viktoria Nasyrova, 42, was arraigned on Tuesday on charges that also include burglary and assault. She’s due in court on May 25, and faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Police said the Russian-born suspect targeted 35-year-old Olga Tsvyk because they resembled each other. Both women speak Russian and have dark hair and brown eyes.

“This is a bizarre and twisted crime that could have resulted in the death of a Queens woman, whose only fault was that she shared similar features with the defendant,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said, according to Fox News.

The plot unfolded back in August 2016, authorities said, when Nasyrova visited Tsvyk at her home in Forest Hills, Queens, saying she needed help with an emergency eyelash repair, according to the New York Post. She brought cheesecake as a gift.

Viktoria Nasyrova
CBS New York
Viktoria Nasyrova

Tsvyk ate some of the dessert, fell ill and took to her bed.

“It tasted like a regular cheesecake, nothing out of the ordinary,” she told the Post.

Tests showed the cheesecake was laced with phenazepan, a Russian tranquilizer.

“Before passing out, the woman’s last memory is of seeing the defendant sitting beside her inside her home,” DA Brown told reporters. “The following day, the victim’s friend discovered her unconscious in her bed, dressed in lingerie with pills scattered around her body — as if the woman had attempted to kill herself.”

Tsvyk recovered after hospital treatment.

While she was unconscious, Nasyrova stole her passport, employment authorization card, a gold ring and some cash, authorities said.

Nasyrova already was jailed on Rikers Island in New York on charges of stealing from two men she met through online dating sites. She’s also wanted for drugging and killing a woman in Russia before she fled to New York, according to Fox News.

Nasyrova denied those charges during an interview with CBS′ “48 Hours,” saying, “I’m not a killer.”

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