This week, a former Pennsylvania college student admitted he tried to kill his girlfriend’s unborn child by giving her water mixed with liquid bleach, PEOPLE confirms.
Theophilous Washington, 21, pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted homicide of an unborn child, according to a press release from the Lancaster County Attorney’s Office.
Washington, of Washington, D.C., had also been charged with attempted homicide and reckless endangerment, but both charges will be expunged when he’s sentenced in a couple of months.
Washington, who is still being held on $1 million bail, admitted in court Tuesday he provided his then-girlfriend with a bottle of water, which he knew contained bleach.
Washington was a junior at Millersville University in Millersville, Pennsylvania, at the time of his October, 2016 arrest.
Washington told investigators he handed her the tainted water as she was leaving his apartment.
She drank it as she returned to her room on campus and, soon after, experienced a burning sensation in her throat before vomiting uncontrollably. She called 911, and Washington was taken in for questioning, according to a statement obtained by PEOPLE.
A doctor examined the woman, who was two months pregnant, as well as the fetus.
Neither the mother nor the child — which has since been born — suffered any longterm effects as a result of Washington’s actions.
“The charges are twisted and the intended result nothing short of horrifying,” Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman said at the time of the arrest. “There is no greater call in law enforcement than to protect the most vulnerable among us, and there are none more vulnerable than the unborn.”
Efforts to reach Washington’s lawyers Thursday were unsuccessful.
This article originally appeared on PEOPLE.