Hackensack Woman Charged With Drugging Acquaintance’s Tea at Fort Lee Restaurant, Prosecutor Says

FORT LEE, N.J. — A Hackensack woman has been charged with aggravated assault after investigators allege she slipped a benzodiazepine into an acquaintance’s tea at a Fort Lee restaurant during a meeting about unauthorized activity in the victim’s bank accounts, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced Friday, Oct. 16, 2026.

Rohweniven Bacani, 52, of Hackensack, was charged Wednesday, Oct. 14, with third-degree aggravated assault, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1b(7), according to the prosecutor’s release. Detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and the Leonia Police Department arrested her outside her Hackensack residence the next day, Thursday, Oct. 15, and she was remanded to the Bergen County Jail pending a first appearance in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack, the release says.

Charges are accusations. Bacani is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

What the prosecutor put on the record

According to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office:

1. Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026: The victim agreed to meet Bacani at a restaurant in Fort Lee to discuss unauthorized banking activity she had detected in her financial accounts, to which Bacani had shared access.
2. When the victim arrived, Bacani was already there with a cup of tea waiting for her. The victim drank some of it but stopped after noticing an unusual taste.
3. The victim collapsed while leaving the restaurant and woke up in the hospital with no knowledge of how she got there. She was hospitalized for several days and is now recovering, the release says.
4. Friday, Sept. 11: Leonia police received information about a resident who was already hospitalized after a serious medical episode that may have been the result of a poisoning. Leonia police notified the prosecutor’s Major Crimes Unit and Robbery-Homicide Division, and a joint investigation began. The victim told detectives she believed an acquaintance — later identified as Bacani — had poisoned her.
5. The weeks-long investigation “revealed” that Bacani poisoned the victim with a controlled dangerous substance, a benzodiazepine, added to the tea, according to the release.

The investigation was run by the prosecutor’s office under the direction of Chief Jeff Angermeyer and the Leonia Police Department under the direction of Chief Scott Tamagny. Musella thanked the Fort Lee Police Department and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office for their assistance.

What fits — and what still doesn’t

What fits: The release lays out a clear sequence — a meeting called over unexplained banking activity, a drink already poured, a collapse, and a multi-day hospital stay — and names two agencies that worked the case jointly for about five weeks before a charge was filed.

What the public record does not yet show:

• How the drug was identified. The release says the investigation revealed a benzodiazepine in the tea, but does not say whether that finding came from hospital toxicology, testing of the cup, or other evidence.
• One charge only. The release lists a single count of third-degree aggravated assault. It lists no separate charge tied to the “unauthorized banking activity” that prompted the meeting, and it does not say who made those transactions or how much money was involved.
• The relationship. The victim and Bacani are described only as acquaintances who shared access to the victim’s accounts. How that shared access came about is not explained.
• Monmouth County’s role. The prosecutor thanked the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office for assistance but did not say what that assistance was.
• The restaurant. The release does not name the Fort Lee restaurant, and Bergen TV is not naming it.
• Custody now. As of the Oct. 16 release, Bacani was in the Bergen County Jail awaiting a first appearance. Bergen TV checked the prosecutor’s press-release page on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, and found no update on a first appearance or detention decision.

Open questions

• Will prosecutors seek pretrial detention, and when is the first appearance?
• What evidence identified the benzodiazepine, and was the remaining tea recovered?
• Is there a separate investigation into the banking activity the victim reported?
• What did the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office contribute?
• Does Bacani have an attorney who will comment?

Source: Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, “Hackensack Woman Charged With Aggravated Assault,” Oct. 16, 2026.