SAN FRANCISCO—Xin Wang, a member of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), was arrested at the Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday, June 7. The major was arrested for stealing information from the medical researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) for a military laboratory in China. Wang was in the process of boarding a flight to Tianjin, China at the time of his arrest.
According to a release from the United States Department of Justice, Wang entered the United States using a fake passport on March 26 of 2019. He posed as a medical researcher at UCSF and gained access to scientific research that was funded by grants from the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health. The “Level 9” PLA technician said that he was instructed by the director of his military laboratory in the PRC to report information on the layout of the San Francisco laboratory to replicate in China.
The release says, “Wang made his initial appearance on Monday, June 8, 2020, in the Central District of California before Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian, and was detained for further proceedings. His next appearance is scheduled for Friday, June 12, 2020, at 10 a.m., before Judge Chooljian, for a detention hearing.”
Wang is being charged with visa fraud. If convicted, he could face a maximum of 10 years in prison with a fine of $250,000.
