Xuming Li had been in Florida on a student visa from China.
A man caught on home surveillance video allegedly injecting toxins under his Florida neighbor's home has been deported, his attorney said Friday.
Xuming Li, 36, was charged over the summer with three counts of battery and possession of a controlled substance. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in August.
Toxicology tests determined that two strong opioids, methadone and hydrocodone, had been pumped into the home of his upstairs neighbors, police said.
Those neighbors, Umar Abdullah and his wife, had recently welcomed a baby and immediately afterward, the man began repeatedly complaining about noise, the couple said.
The family started smelling fumes and then became ill, they said. Even the baby got sick. “She used to cough and subsequently she would vomit,” Abdullah said at the time.
After having their air conditioning ducts cleaned and their plumbing checked, the family installed a surveillance camera.
Then came the frightening sight of their neighbor kneeling in front of their door and injecting something under their front door with a syringe, Abdullah said.
Xuming Li, who was studying chemistry at the University of South Florida, was expelled from the campus after his arrest, authorities said. After pleading not guilty, he was released on bond.
Since then, his student visa was revoked, and he was deported to China, according to reports. The date of his deportation was not immediately clear.
"The case will, essentially, be on pause unless, or until, he returns to the States," his attorney, Adam Banter, said in a statement emailed to news outlets.
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