Lawyer for Chinese operator of illegal lab in Reedley fears for his safety in jail

The attorney for Jia Bei Zhu, the accused operator of an illegal medical lab in Reedley, want’s his client released from the Fresno County Jail out of concern for his safety.

Zhu appeared in U.S. District Court on Thursday and pleaded not guilty to charges he lied to federal officials and mislabeled medical products as part of a clandestine lab he helped run out of a former cold-storage warehouse in downtown Reedley.

Zhu’s attorney. Anthony P. Capozzi said that while Zhu denies having done anything wrong, he also worries that a recent Congressional committee report, released Wednesday, about the illegal lab makes his client a target for anti-Asian hate.

“I am concerned that with the Congressional report that just came out he may be in danger at the jail,” Capozzi said, after the arraignment hearing.

According to the Asian Americans Advancing Justice organization, the Asian-American community saw a sharp rise in hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Capozzi asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Stanley A. Boone for more time to review the recently released report from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party so he can prepare his request for Zhu’s release.

As part of the committee’s report, it faulted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control for its “baffling” and “unacceptable” response to Reedley city officials’ request for help identifying thousands of vials of suspected contagion in December 2022.

An investigation by Reedley inspectors discovered dozens of freezers and refrigerators full of various bacterial, viral and parasitic agents including COVID-19, chlamydia, E. coli, streptococcus, Hepatitis B and C, human herpes, HIV (the virus that causes AIDS), rubella and malaria.

The charges against Zhu, who was arrested in October in Reedley, relate to the manufacture and distribution of illegal COVID-19 test kits and lying to federal investigators.

One of alleged lies Zhu told is about his real name. The indictment against him identifies him as Zhu, while Capozzi said he legally changed his name to David He.

If convicted on both charges, he faces a maximum penalty of eight years in prison.

Although Zhu has identified himself in emails as a representative of Universal Meditech Inc. and Prestige Biotech Inc., the two companies operating the unlicensed business the Reedley warehouse, Capozzi said his client is a researcher and consultant.

“There are other people involved,” Capozzi said.

The judge scheduled a hearing to review Zhu’s release on Nov. 22 at 11 a.m.