On the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay, just a few blocks from the water,

sit the offices of Berkeley Engineering and Research,

also known by the acronym, B-E-A-R, or Bear.

Inside the company's humble buildings BE-A-R or Bear.

Inside the company's humble buildings are state-of-the-art labs and workshops

where some of the country's brightest scientific minds do their work,

analyzing data, conducting experiments.

These are some of the smartest most accomplished minds in the world.

One of those super intelligent, super competent engineers was David Joo.

One day in March 2019, the then 34 year old Joo slipped into one of the company's offices, but it wasn't his office.

It belonged to his colleague, Rong Yewan.

JU crossed to Yewan's desk and picked up her water bottle.

He unscrewed the cap and poured something inside.

Then he put the water bottle back down.

He started to leave, but then turned back and adjusted the bottle slightly, making sure it was in the exact same position he'd found it.

For months, JU had repeated the same movement.

It was a near daily task.

He must have thought no one was looking or paying attention.

Little did he know that his window of opportunity was about to come crashing down around him.

This is the opportunist, an original podcast from Podcast One.

You're listening to a story told in one episode called David Jieu, Toxic Workplace.

I'm Sarah James McLaughlin.

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