A former post-doctoral researcher at Indiana University Bloomington has been sentenced to four months in prison and will be deported after pleading guilty to a charge of smuggling materials into the United States from China.
Youhuang Xiang, a Chinese citizen who was living in the U.S. on a J-1 visa, received his sentencing at the U.S. Southern District Court in Monroe County on April 7.
Xiang was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) last November upon returning to Chicago O’Hare Airport after a visit to the United Kingdom. Earlier that month, the Indianapolis Bureau of the FBI had begun to investigate what it called “suspicious shipments” to Xiang from China, according to a press release from the Southern District of Indiana’s U.S. Attorney’s Office.
FBI begins investigation after flagging ‘unusual’ package
The Attorney’s Office alleges that in March 2024, Xiang ordered and received a shipment from a science and technology company based in China. The shipping manifest for the package – a document declaring the contents of a shipment – labeled the items as men’s and women’s underwear. Investigators found it “unusual” that Xiang was ordering underwear from a science and technology company in China, and sought to interview Xiang upon his return to the U.S.
During his interview at O’Hare, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Xiang initially denied any knowledge of smuggling but later admitted that the shipping manifest was “intentionally mislabeled” and contained samples of E. coli plasmid DNA. Plasmid DNA is a small, nonliving DNA molecule found in bacteria that’s routinely used by to study and replicate genes.
Upon his admission, CPB arrested Xiang and immediately terminated his J-1 visa.
Sentencing includes deportation, $500 fine
Xiang signed a guilty plea agreement on March 2, in which he agreed to a removal order to be deported back to China. During an April 7 hearing in the U.S. Southern District Court in Monroe County, Xiang was also sentenced to a one-year supervised release, a $500 fine, and a $100 “special assessment” to the United States due immediately to the District Court.
The IU chapter of the American Association of University Professors has spoken out against Xiang’s arrest and detention. In a press release, the IU AAUP said Xiang is a “well-respected scholar” in the community and that the charges are a “troubling mischaracterization” of standard practices for biologists obtaining research samples.
The chapter condemned IU for failing to defend Xiang, who was a researcher in the IU Bloomington Department of Biology.
“We call on the Indiana University upper administration to protect all IU scholars from Trump Administration harassment: for moral reasons, for the betterment of U.S. technological leadership, and for academic freedom,” the press release read.
Reach Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: IU postdoc researcher sentenced for bringing E. coli sample into U.S.
Reporting by Brian Rosenzweig, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
