Wyoming Graduate Student Arrested in Alleged Poisoning Plot

A University of Wyoming graduate student from China has been arrested for allegedly poisoning another student, the Associated Press reported. The student, Aili Wang, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport, where prosecutors say she was attempting to leave the country after being questioned by police.

Court records said that campus police set up cameras in an office shared by Wang and the alleged victim, who is referred to by the initials K.T. in documents, after the victim reported the suspected poisoning. According to an affidavit by a university police officer, the camera captured Wang searching through the items on K.T.’s desk.

An affidavit by a campus police officer says that Wang and K.T. did not get along. It also alleges that K.T.’s patent-pending research on technology to treat cancers and other diseases was similar to what Wang had been working on in China.

According to Wang’s adviser, Wang had failed her first dissertation defense and had been jealous of K.T., a highly successful researcher from China. Soon after attending a prestigious conference in August, the alleged victim began experiencing symptoms including extreme tiredness, as well as a strange taste in the tea he brewed in his office. A chemistry professor tested the water in the coffee maker and found acrylamide, which can be toxic in high doses. Court documents allege that Wang had recently purchased the chemical on eBay.

“It’s been disheartening, to say the least, to see that one of your students’ life is in jeopardy and another student may be responsible for that,” the advisor, Wyoming microbiology professor Mark Gomelsky, told the Associated Press. “That was one of the worst shocks in my professional career.”