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Multiple people who spent time inside a Las Vegas Airbnb that hid a possible biological lab with alleged links to China fell “deathly ill,” a former house cleaner told police.
The former employee, who went by the pseudonym “Kelly,” alleged that both she and a handyman who was brought in to help maintain the property got “deathly ill after going into the garage,” where the lab was set up, ABC News reported.
“Approximately five days after entering the garage, she was left with breathing issues, fatigue, ‘could not get out of bed,’ and muscle aches,” according to police records.
The handyman suffered the “same symptoms” and backed up Kelly’s claim that the illness only came after they entered the garage.
Along with the employees, Kelly claimed that the wife of the property manager, Ori Solomon, 55, also got sick after entering the lab area, according to the report.
“Kelly said a lot of people who have lived inside the house have gotten sick,” the police report read. “One female ended up in the hospital with severe respiratory issues.
“Kelly also noted when she was cleaning the house, there would be many dead crickets found in the master bedroom,” which was allegedly “super uncommon as she had lived in Las Vegas for numerous years and never seen anything like that before,” the report added.
Kelly was the source of the tip that led officers to the raid on the Las Vegas home over the weekend, where investigators said they found “potential biological and hazardous materials.”
Officials said the property belonged to Jia Bei Zhu, 62, a man already under federal custody after allegedly running an unauthorized biolab in Reedley, California, in 2023.
Zhu is accused of manufacturing and distributing misbranded medical devices, including tests for COVID-19, pregnancy and HIV, without proper permits, as well as making false statements to the Food and Drug Administration.
According to a report by the House Select Committee on the People’s Republic of China, Zhu is a Chinese citizen and a wanted fugitive from Canada with close ties to Beijing.
He was involved in a transnational criminal enterprise that stole millions of dollars in intellectual property from US companies, the committee said.
Despite Zhu’s attorney claiming that his client is not involved in the Las Vegas investigation, police claim Zhu was in “constant” contact with Solomon since his 2023 arrest, with the two having more than 460 calls in 2025 alone.
Kelly told police that Zhu called Solomon “every day” to check on the residence, with the property manager allegedly instructed to move the lab “out of the garage immediately” if he was ever contacted by investigators.
Solomon was arrested Saturday and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of disposing of and discharging hazardous waste, police said.
As authorities investigate the Las Vegas home and substances found inside, police said they have already identified one of the chemicals as hydrochloric acid.
The police report warned that the substance can “cause substantial permanent injuries to the human body if exposed to the skin, inhaled or ingested.”
“As a result, the failure to properly dispose of these chemicals imperiled the lives of anyone in or near the garage,” the report added. “Moreover, hydrochloric acid is known to be volatile if airborne and can cause respiratory injury if inhaled.”
English (US)