Former chef pleads guilty to supplying lethal substances for suicides

Crime Former chef pleads guilty to selling lethal substances to 14 people who died by suicide May 29, 2026 / 11:41 AM EDT / CBS/AP Add CBS News on Google A Canadian man accused of selling lethal substances online to people who used them to end their own lives pleaded guilty Friday to counseling or aiding suicide.Wearing a dark blazer and a white shirt, Kenneth Law, a former chef, stood in the prisoner's box of a Newmarket, Ontario, court to enter his guilty pleas. Sentencing is scheduled for September. As part of the plea agreement, Canadian prosecutors will withdraw 14 murder charges against him.Police in Canada and around the world have been investigating more than 100 suicides linked to Law. The charges against him in the Canadian court are related to 14 people across Ontario who were between the ages of 16 and 36.Canadian police said Law used a series of websites to market and sell sodium nitrite, a substance commonly used to cure meats that can be deadly if ingested.In 2023, Canadian police released photos of the sodium nitrite, adding that a joint operation led by 11 police agencies from across Ontario were investigating the case."Investigators are asking members of the community to be alert of any packaging or label identifying sodium nitrite," Constable Sarah Patten said at the time.  Kenneth Law pictured in a handout photo from Canadian Police. Peel Regional Police Law is suspected of sending at least 1,200 packages to more than 40 countries, with about 160 of those allegedly sent to addresses in Canada, police said. He has been in custody since his arrest at his Mississauga, Ontario, home in May 2023. Prosecutors in the U.K. have decided not to charge Law despite investigating him for over 112 deaths.The Crown Prosecution Service and the National Crime Agency said they had decided Law "should be sentenced for the full extent of his offending within a single sentencing process in Canada."In a letter to bereaved families, the organizations sai...