Internal police records
have revealed that investigators believed there was a “deeper
conspiracy” between the indicted Chinese national who ran an infamous
biolab in California and the project manager of the garage lab raided by
the FBI late last month.
Records from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
now provide further details on how the illegal biolab in Reedley,
California searched by local, state, and federal authorities in 2023 and
a separate hazardous lab inside a Las Vegas garage raided in late
January are both tied to a CCP-linked Chinese national currently
awaiting trial for fraud, false statements, and the adulteration of
medical devices.
Jia Bei Zhu was arrested in 2023 related to allegations he
was running an illegal biological laboratory in Reedley, California. In
late January of this year, the FBI and local police raided a similar
biolab in Vegas, arresting the home’s property manager, Ori Solomon
(also spelled Solomon). Police say the two labs are closely connected.
The “Declaration of Arrest Report” was obtained through a public records request by Just the News.
Beyond providing further details on the connections between Zhu and
Solomon and the biolabs in California and Nevada, the police report also
suggested that there was an aborted “alternative” lab attempted in
Vegas before it was moved to the Vegas garage.
“Ori Connections to Zhu”: Links between the California and Vegas biolabs
The police report included a section on “Ori Connections to
Zhu.” Vegas police argued that “Ori Solomon was developed as a
principal agent and conspirator with David He in the operation and
storage of the unlawful biolab materials at 979 Sugar Springs.”
A prior review by Just the News of federal court filings,
real estate records, and police documents shows that the Vegas property
featuring a garage filled with suspicious vials and biohazard equipment
has been listed as being owned by Zhu, an LLC founded by him, and/or by
his romantic partner and business associate who fled to China in 2023.
The Fresno County Department of Public Health, the
California Department of Public Health, and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention all conducted searches and inspections of the Reedley Lab location in 2023. Multiple local outlets in California reported this week that the FBI also executed a search warrant at the site of the since-closed California lab location on Saturday as well.
Congressional investigators allege
that Zhu (also purportedly known by the aliases of Jesse Zhu, Qiang He,
and David He) had significant connections to the Chinese Communist
Party apparatus and say he ran an illegal laboratory in California that
housed approximately 20 types of infectious disease samples — including
HIV, Tuberculosis, and the deadliest known form of Malaria. It also
allegedly sold oft-counterfeit or Chinese-origin COVID-19 tests without a
proper permit, the investigators said.
The Vegas property raided by police and federal agents over the weekend was located at 979 Sugar Springs Drive — and ownership records
show it is run by David Destiny Discovery LLC, a company registered by
Zhu and now in the name of his wife and business partner Zhaoyan Wang,
who reportedly fled to China after police began investigating the father
of her child in 2023.
The Las Vegas police report,
written by a “peace officer” who has been on the force for eight years,
provided the “details for probable cause” for the joint police and FBI
search of the Vegas property in late January and early February, and listed five main "suspects."
The first listed alleged suspect was Jia Bei Zhu. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
The second alleged suspect was Zhu’s Chinese business
partner and the mother of his child, Zhaoyan Wang. Zhu’s lawyer did not
respond to a request for comment sent to Wang’s attention.
The third alleged suspect was Xiuqin Yao, whom the House Select Committee on the CCP described as a representative of the Zhu-linked Prestige Biotech affiliated with the Reedley Lab. Just the News
was not able to reach Yao for comment, and the House CCP committee’s
2023 report indicated she may be in China. She has not been charged.
The fourth suspect was Solomon. His lawyer did not respond
to a request for comment. The fifth suspect was a handyman known as
“Michael” or “Mikey” who worked for Solomon, but who has not been
charged by police with any wrongdoing. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police
Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill in early February accidentally
referred to Zhu as the prime suspect in the Vegas case, before saying that the prime suspect was actually Solomon.
“The main suspect in this case” is “the owner of the house on Sugar Springs Drive,” McMahill said at the Monday press conference
in reference to Zhu, before adding that “I’m sorry, that’s not the main
suspect. That’s the main suspect in the California case.”
“The primary suspect we arrested, however, is Mr. Ori
Solomon,” McMahill said. “His initial charge was a charge of disposing
and discharging hazardous waste.”
The newly-obtained police report said that Ori has been the
property manager of Zhu's residences in Las Vegas for numerous years”
and that “Ori is in constant communication with Zhu while he is housed
at Taft Community Correctional Facility on charges stemming from the
Reedley Biolab.”
The police report said that it searched
Zhu’s phone records from jail from January 2025 through much of January
2026, with Zhu making more than 6,945 calls during that timeframe and
with two numbers being “highlighted for excessive recent use.”
The police said he had placed 3,524 calls to Wang during that period, and had placed 467 calls to Solomon.
“During those conversations, Ori and Zhu communicated about
the management of properties, and transfer of financial funds,” the
police report said. The report also said that “Ori organized the
transfer of material from” the separate previous Las Vegas property —
dubbed “the failed Las Vegas Lab” by the police — to the “979 Sugar
Springs address for storage.”
A "deeper conspiracy" alleged
“Michael learned of Zhu's ties to the Reedley biolab by
Ori, which shows that Ori has a deep knowledge of the business dealings
of Zhu and has a direct tie to him,” the police report said. “This also
shows a deeper conspiracy by Zhu having Ori manage his buildings and
enterprise while he is in custody. Zhu has also informed Ori to transfer
money to Wang while she is in China, and furthermore Zhu has instructed
Wang to send business related documents to Ori at his direction.”
The police report said
that, in early January 2026, “FBI Las Vegas received a tip from FBI
Sacramento of potential lab equipment, PPE, and medical waste being
discovered at an Airbnb/Short Term Rental (STR) located at 979 Sugar
Springs Drive, Las Vegas.”
The report said this information came from a witness dubbed
“Kelly” who stated that “she was a contracted home cleaner for a male
by the name of ‘Ori’ Solomon for his STR properties that he manages.”
The police report said that “Kelly mentioned the names of Jei Bu aka
David He, and Wang Zhao Yan as the owners of the residences and the
employer to Solomon.” The witness also alleged that “Wang is said to be
monitoring the cameras on property, while in China, absconding from
Federal Indictment [...] Kelly advised, cameras are installed in both
the front and backyards of the residences.”
Zhu is currently in federal custody
“Kelly said that she believes that Ori is still in contact
with David He while he is in federal prison. She believes this due to
Ori saying that David calls him every day to check on the residences.
David's wife still manages the property but believes she is in China but
still has access to the cameras to monitor them,” the police report relayed
when recounting the witness’s comments to them. “When Kelly started
working at the residences, Mikey was the one who told her about the
Reedley lab, and that David was in custody of the Reedley Biolab. Ori
got mad at Mikey for telling Kelly all the information about David.”
The police report assessed: “Ori is the property manager
and business partner of Zhu. Zhu is currently in federal custody after
housing an illegal biolab in Reedley California, for committing wire
fraud, and Distribution of Adulterated and Misbranding Medical Devices.
Since Zhu's arrest he has been in constant communication with Ori more
than 460 calls attempted or completed to Ori since January 2025. Ori is
known to execute the business dealings for Zhu and transferring of funds
to Wang back in Canada.”
The report said that “Ori was the individual tasked with
moving the laboratory equipment from” a different failed laboratory site
in Las Vegas “to 979 Sugar Springs” and the police contended that “this
shows Ori has a direct knowledge of the biolab being owned and operated
by Zhu.”
“Due to Ori and Zhu being in constant communication with
Zhu it is believed there will be evidence located on his phone with
emails, messages, and possibly pictures to confirm his involvement in
the larger scale enterprise set up by Zhu in Las Vegas,” the police
report said.
The Justice Department in November 2023 charged
Zhu with “distributing adulterated and misbranded medical devices” in
violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and for “making false
statements” to the Food and Drug Administration. A superseding indictment
in August 2024 also charged both Zhu and Wang with wire fraud and
conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to their alleged biolab scheme.
Zhu has pleaded not guilty.
Solomon was arrested in early February by Vegas police as they searched the Sugar Springs Drive property he ran for Zhu, and he was hit with a state-level felony charge for the criminal “Dispose/Discharge [of] hazardous waste.”
The Justice Department then also hit Solomon with a federal charge for the illegal possession of a firearm
while under a nonimmigrant visa after investigators discovered at least
six firearms at the Vegas property as part of their investigation.
Just the News has found
that Zhu and his attorney have been fighting unsuccessfully against his
detention for more than two years, often seeking to use the Sugar
Springs Drive home in Vegas as collateral to allow him to be released on
bail, and specifically and repeatedly naming Solomon as one of his
proposed custodians to help monitor him once he is bailed out.
Zhu remains behind bars, but the court filings
help show the close links between Zhu, the Sugar Springs Drive
property, David Destiny Discovery (also called “3D” by Zhu and his legal
team), and Solomon.
The filings also demonstrate
the DOJ’s concerns that the bail deal repeatedly proposed by Zhu is
actually a scheme to help him flee to China, which is where Wang jetted
off to with their child shortly after Zhu was raided a few years ago.
The “alternative” Vegas lab location
The police report asserted
that “Solomon, through his employee Mikey, […] transported the biolab
equipment and materials specifically to the garage at the 979 Sugar
Springs residence. Mikey transported the items from failed Prestige
Biotech Industries Diagnostic Laboratory LLC start-up at 1807 W
Charleston, at the direction of Ori Solomon.”
Police wrote
that in early January, an FBI special agent met in person with Kent
Williams, a public health analyst with the Southern Nevada Health
District. The report said Williams was familiar with the prior
investigation of the Reedley Biolab in California “and its connection to
the Las Vegas Valley.” Williams reportedly advised the FBI agent that
Vegas police, the FBI office in Vegas, and Department of Homeland
Security “had previously investigated a facility on the 1800 block of
Charleston Boulevard where medical equipment was allegedly stored but
was never found.”
The police wrote that “the location on Charleston refers to
Prestige Biotech” — a company tied to the Reedley biolab case, “where
Wang and Yao are listed as the President.”
The report said that the PBI Diagnostic Laboratory LLC
“attempted to obtain a laboratory license in the State of Nevada” at the
Charleston address in Vegas, and that “David, Wang, and Yao attempted
to open an alternative Diagnostic Lab in Las Vegas separate from the
Reedley, California Laboratory.” in April 2023, the Nevada Department of
Health and Human Services “received an application for PBI Diagnostic
Laboratory LLC” and that “the application listed Zhaoyan Wang as the
owner with 100% control of the company.”
The report said that the “laboratory director” for PBI soon
decided to rescind the application for the lab in July 2023. It appears
that the biolab materials and equipment were then moved to the Sugar
Springs address.
The police report also recounted
that “Kelly knew of a male by the name of ‘Mikey’ who works as a
handyman for Ori Solomon and Mikey is his go-to man for handyman,
moving, and janitorial services. Mikey told Kelly that he had moved the
lab equipment and fridges/freezers from an address on Charleston (1807
Charleston) from a failed lab start up for David.”
Police added that “when asked about Mikey, Kelly advised he
works for Ori as a maintenance employee/janitor” and that “Mikey
advised Kelley he also wanted nothing to do with the garage, due to him
being the one who moved all the equipment from the location on
Charleston to the house.”
Kelly reportedly told police that “Mikey has made numerous threats to Ori about reporting the lab that he has.”
Discovering and investigating the Vegas garage lab
The police report's summary said
that “Kelly entered the garage while working as a house cleaner for
Ori Salomon at 979 Sugar Springs in April 2025 and observed
approximately three refrigerators/freezers, glass beakers with reddish
liquid inside, a five-gallon arrowhead water bottle with reddish liquid
inside, a Beckman Coulter centrifuge machine, and a biological safety
cabinet.”
Police said that “this equipment and storage of the reddish
liquid is consistent with the items located inside the Reedley biolab
in 2023.” The police also wrote
that Kelly called Nevada code enforcement in early January “to report
the possibility of a biolab being located at 979 Sugar Springs address”
and that she also called Reedley, California “to report the same
situation, due to her existing knowledge of the Reedley biolab and
David's involvement” the next day.
What prompted Kelly to report the Vegas garage lab was a
prior incident which occurred when she was tasked with cleaning the
property. “Kelly stated that at one time, the back door that leads to
the side yard and into the garage was left open,” the police wrote.
“Kelly informed Ori of the unsecured door, who instructed
her to make sure that door was shut and locked. Normally, Mikey [...]
ensures the doors are always locked." Kelly said "she had been
previously advised numerous times and with strong emphasis to make sure
the doors were always locked [...] and that the garage maintained power.
Kelly stated when she went to lock the door she looked inside the
garage.”
Kelly looked inside the garage and spotted refrigerators,
glass beakers with red liquid inside, and various pieces of biomedical
equipment. The garage also allegedly contained disease tests shipped
from China. “Kelly described the garage as smellng like a hospital (not
like a clean hospital but more of a foul stale stagnant air smell),” the
police report said.
Vegas garage lab made people “deathly ill”
The police report cited Kelly’s witness statement, saying
that both Kelly and Mikey got “deathly ill” after they entered the
garage with the lab in April 2025. The police report summary said that “they both became severely ill and believed it to be from the biolab in the garage.”
Police wrote
that “approximately five days after entering the garage, she was left
with breathing issues, fatigue, ‘could not get out of bed’, and muscle
aches” and that “Mikey had the same symptoms as Kelly.”
Kelly told police “Mikey believed entering the garage was
the reason that they both were sick” and that Solomon’s wife also “got
sick after entering the garage.”
Police wrote that “Kelly also noted when she was cleaning
the house there would be many dead crickets found in the master bedroom.
Kelly noted this as being super uncommon as she had lived in Las Vegas
for numerous years and never seen anything like that before.”
The police report also said that “one female ended up in
the hospital with severe respiratory issues” after allegedly being
exposed to the garage.
Inside the charges against Jia Bei Zhu and Ori Solomon
Zhu and his alleged co-conspirator — Zhaoyan Wang, his
business partner and the mother of his child currently hiding out in
China — were both hit with a superseding federal indictment in August 2024 after Zhu was initially arrested and charged in 2023.
The first count related to 18 U.S.C. § 1349
— conspiracy to commit wire fraud — with the DOJ alleging that “as a
result of the false and fraudulent representations that defendants Zhu
and Wang … caused to be made to the buyers” of “COVID-19 test kits” from
companies owned by the duo, these companies “sold hundreds of thousands
of the test kits and received over $1,700,000 in payments.”
The second through ninth counts against Zhao and Wang related to 18 U.S.C. § 1343 — wire fraud — for the aforementioned scheme. The tenth and eleventh counts against the duo hit them with a charge under 21 U.S.C. § 331(a) and 21 U.S.C. § 333(a)(2) for the “distribution of adulterated and misbranded medical devices.”
The twelfth count was against just Zhu, and it was a charge
under 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2) for alleged “false statements” made to FDA
officials, with the DOJ arguing that Zhu lied when he claimed that “he
was not defendant Zhu aka Jesse Zhu and was instead Qiang He aka David
He” and that “did not know the manufacturing and distribution histories”
for his companies and “did not have access” to the “distribution
records, financial records, or ownership records” for the companies.
Zhu has pleaded not guilty. Wang was unavailable for prosecution as she is in China.
The federal court docket for Zhu says
that, on Monday, “defense counsel requested a continuance to further
investigate a recent incident in a lab located in Las Vegas” and that
“the continuance requested is granted for good cause and the Court finds
the ends of justice outweigh the interest of the public and the
defendant in a speedy trial.”
The judge presiding over Zhu’s case has set a trial date for this April.
A court filing
by the State of Nevada in early February against Solomon — the property
manager for Zhu and Wang — showed he had been hit with a felony charge
under Statute 459.600.3,
the state law banning the unlicensed or improper handling of hazardous
materials. The court docket says that “probable cause existed for the
defendant’s arrest” and that “the defendant’s biological specimen shall
be submitted to the appropriate laboratory for genetic marker analysis.”
Solomon posted bail for a $3,000 cash bond. The Nevada court docket has set a future court date for Solomon for early March.
Soon after the raid of the Vegas property which he manages,
the Justice Department revealed in a Monday court filing that he was
also being charged federally under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(B) and 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(2) for being a “prohibited person in possession of a firearm.”
The conspiracy laid out
The criminal complaint,
filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, had its
affidavit penned by FBI Special Agent Hannah Janousek. Janousek said
that Solomon, “knowing that he was an alien admitted to the United
States under a nonimmigrant visa, knowingly possessed” a number of
firearms in violation of the law, including four handguns and two
rifles.
The FBI agent said that, during Saturday’s search, Vegas
police “officers observed a room that appeared to be an office space for
Solomon” and that the police found a French passport with the name “Ori
Salomon” and an Israeli passport bearing the name “Ori Solomon.”
The recently-obtained police report said
that “Solomon, who, acting as a conspirator and agent of David He
(Zhu), had exclusive control over the garage of the residence, and
abandoned an open box of hydrochloric acid in an unsecured shelf in that
garage, thereby imperiling the health and lives of everyone residing in
the home.” The police report said that “by leaving the items in such a
manner Ori Solomon and associates have greatly compromised the safety of
the greater Las Vegas Valley.”
The federal court docket also says that Solomon was released on bond.
The House Select Committee on the CCP’s 2023 report
said that Zhu was "a fugitive from Canada who illegally entered the
United States" and had "previously stolen millions of dollars of
American intellectual property." According to the report, after entering
the United States under his “David He” alias, Zhu formed new companies
with the help of an unnamed accountant who allegedly had ties to the
Chinese United Front Work Department and wider Chinese Communist Party
leadership.
