Arlington woman says she and friend were drugged at local bar

ARLINGTON, Wash. — An Arlington woman said she and her friend are convinced someone tried to drug their drinks at a local bar.

Saturday night at The Cedar Stump in Arlington is always packed with familiar faces, so 26-year-old Cassandra Bergstrom said she and a female friend felt perfectly safe.

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They had two drinks, and that's the last thing they both remember. Friends had to carry them out of the bar.

"I couldn't talk. I couldn't speak. [My boyfriend] said my eyes were rolling to the back of my head, and I've never experienced that from alcohol,” Cassandra told us.

Two days later, both women are still weak and nauseated; Cassandra is convinced someone slipped something into their drinks.

When she told bar owner Tammy Brown, Tammy was horrified.

"Oh my God, here?  You don't hear that here," Tammy told us from inside The Cedar Stump.

Tammy was so concerned she immediately checked her security cameras.

The women set their drinks on a ledge near two pool tables. Tammy said she spent 45 minutes going over the footage and never saw anyone touch them.

"If I saw anything that kind of looks suspicious, I'd slow it down and back it up, and I didn't see anything,” Tammy explained, but she said she can’t be certain -- even with 32 cameras.

"I'm sick to my stomach about it, I am -- to think that somebody would come in here and do that really, really bothers me,” Tammy told us.

Cassandra called police, but was told she needed more evidence to file a report. She went to the hospital for a drug test, but was told common date-rape drugs like Rohypnol -- or roofies -- don't stay in the body long and are often undetectable.

"If the hospital can't do a test to prove it's in my system so the cops can't do an investigation -- I'm scared for other women,” Cassandra explained.

She said she found a lab that will test her hair follicle.

Results take months for something she said took just minutes.

"I had my back turned for a few minutes, and that's all it takes for someone to put something in your drink,” Cassandra concluded.

Cox Media Group