The FBI and local law enforcement uncovered a possible illegal biological laboratory in Las Vegas that has suspected connections to another illegal lab previously discovered in California.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the FBI, and local fire departments conducted a multiday search of a home in a residential neighborhood in northeast Las Vegas from Jan. 31 to Feb 2. Investigators say they collected over 1,000 pieces of evidence, including biological liquids and materials that are being sent for testing.
Law enforcement conducted this weekend’s mission after investigators gathered and corroborated intelligence about the home, Christopher Delzotto, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas field office, said.
The case is gaining increased national attention as investigators draw links to the Chinese-owned lab in Reedley, California, which was the subject of a bipartisan House investigation in 2023. LVMPD Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the ties to the Reedley lab “raised significant concern” for this Las Vegas case.
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Connections to the Reedley biolab
“We determined that the home was owned by the same individual connected to a prior illegal biolab investigation in Reedley, California, that occurred in 2023,” McMahill said. “In Reedley, investigators reportedly discovered an illegal biolab containing materials possibly associated with a range of infectious diseases, including Hepatitis, COVID, HIV, malaria, and other potentially dangerous pathogens.”
McMahill said the department does not yet know if similar materials were part of the contents found in the Las Vegas lab as they undergo testing. However, he said the possibility of that required LVMPD to “proceed with extreme caution.”
The alleged operator of the Reedley biolab is named Jia Bei “Jesse” Zhu and was a Chinese national who was a “wanted fugitive” in Canada, according to a House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party report. Zhu was arrested in 2023 on a federal criminal complaint for his involvement in the lab. His trial in that Eastern District of California case will take place on April 21.
According to several local Las Vegas news outlets, Clark County homeowner records show that an LLC under Zhu’s name owns the property in question in Las Vegas, tying the two instances together.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) addressed the investigation and the implications of the Las Vegas lab in a NewsNation interview.
“This is a enormous problem,” Johnson said regarding the biolab. “This is a real threat to our national security.”
What else are authorities saying about the Las Vegas Biolab?
Investigators said in a Monday news release that an unnamed man, believed to be Zhu, is a suspect in the case. They also named property manager of the home Ori Solomon, 55, as a second suspect.
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Authorities booked Solomon in the Clark County Detention Center on charges of disposing and discharging hazardous waste.
They said the investigation remains ongoing and there is no threat to the public.