Davis man accused of stealing possible COVID-19 sample from hospital arrested again
A man accused of stealing a biological sample thought to contain COVID-19 from a hospital in Davis earlier this month and later released from jail has been arrested again, this time on sexual battery and petty theft charges, prosecutors said.
Shaun Lamar Moore of Davis returned to court Wednesday to face his new criminal charges, according to a news release from the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office. This time, the court set Moore’s bail at $10,000, and he remained in custody at the Yolo County Jail on Wednesday evening.
The prosecutors said Moore now faces a charge of misdemeanor sexual battery for an incident that occurred April 20 in Woodland. Moore, 40, also has been charged with petty theft in connection with an incident that occurred in West Sacramento, three days after a Yolo Superior Court judge released him on his own recognizance.
Prosecutors have argued in court documents that Moore “placed the lives of many individuals at risk” and should remain in jail as he awaits prosecution in the hospital sample theft case.
Moore is accused of posing as federal employee and stealing the sample believed to contain COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, from Sutter Davis Hospital on April 11. The sample was scheduled to picked up for lab testing.
Davis police officials have said a caller told officers they found a sealed COVID-19 specimen in a shopping cart at a CVS Pharmacy on West Covell Boulevard. Officers later retrieved the sample and returned it to the hospital. Police stopped Moore near the intersection of Covell and Research Park Drive, and took him into custody.
In the hospital theft case, Moore faces felony charges of attempted possession of a restricted biological agent and second-degree burglary, along with a misdemeanor count of petty theft under false pretenses, according to a criminal complaint filed against him.
Moore suffers from bipolar personality disorder, prosecutors said in their motion earlier this month to deny bail, and he has not been taking medication. They said Moore is homeless, drinks alcohol on occasion and smokes methamphetamine every other day.
About a week before Moore’s April 11 arrest, California courts leaders voted to temporarily end cash bail for suspected lower-level offenders to slow the coronavirus spread in county jails and courtrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergency order sets bail at $0 for most misdemeanor and lower-level felonies.
Yolo Superior Court Judge David Rosenberg decided to release Moore on supervised own recognizance. That status was pending until his next court hearing May 27.
The judge ordered Moore to stay at least 100 yards away from the Sutter Davis Hospital unless there’s a medical emergency and also ordered probation officials to track Moore with a GPS device while he’s free.
Moore was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday for the new charges he faces, along with a charge of violating terms of his release from jail on his own recognizance.