Radioactive Assault Case

[Joel Baumbaugh <baumbaug@nosc.mil>]

        

RADSAFERSl

        

        

A
FYI...

        

Joel
Baumbaugh (baumbaug@nosc.mil)

        

SSC-SD

        

Address:

        

        

http://www.uniontrib.com/news/state/20000209-991926-radioactivea.html

        

Article:
                                                                             
                
Lab technician pleads guilty to radioactive
                
assault


                                                                              
                
ASSOCIATED PRESS 

                
February 9, 2000 

                
SANTA ANA -- A former lab technician plead guilty Wednesday to
                
misdemeanor assault and felony unlawful disposal of radioactive material
for
                
smearing a compound on a co-worker's chair at the University of
California,
                
Irvine. 

                
Andrew Andris Blakis, 32, of Newport Beach was sentenced to 120 days
in
                
jail and three years probation, Orange County Deputy District
Attorney
                
Lance Jensen said. 

                
Blakis also was ordered to stay away from the victim, a 
postdoctoral
                
researcher, and pay any future medical costs she may incur as a result of
the
                
assault. 

                
Jensen said the July 1, 1999, incident occurred because Blakis believed
the
                
researcher, Jingtong Zuo, had tried to poison him with a 
radioactive
                
substance. 

                
The incident began when Blakis was conducting tests at the
university's
                
Gillespie Neuroscience Research Facility. He was working with P32
isotope,
                
a waxy, colorless chemical used in DNA testing. 

                
During his tests, Blakis' lips began to tingle. A Geiger counter,
which
                
measures radiation levels, revealed some of the substance had escaped
the
                
workstation, officials said. 

                
Believing Zuo was responsible, Blakis put the compound on her chair,
Jensen
                
said. 

                
Zuo sat on the chair for about six hours before she discovered the
                
contamination, officials said. 

                
Investigators estimate Zuo was exposed to an average yearlong dose
of
                
radiation during the time. To date, Zuo has not experienced any
side-effects
                
of radiation poisoning, Jensen said. 



                       
© Copyright 2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.



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