Harvard researcher is released from federal custody following accusations of smuggling frog embryos
Kseniia Petrova, a Harvard scientist who was arrested last month on a federal smuggling charge, was released Wednesday from federal custody following a detention hearing in Boston.
Petrova, a Russian citizen, was taken into custody in May after prosecutors in Massachusetts accused her of smuggling frog embryos into the United States without properly declaring them.
She was released Thursday on conditions agreed to by both sides. A probable cause hearing on the smuggling charge is tentatively set for June 18.
Petrova had been in custody since February, when her visa was revoked at Boston Logan International Airport.
'I just want to thank everybody,' Petrova said outside the federal courthouse in Boston after her release. She said letters and messages from supporters helped her feel less alone while in custody. 'It was a huge support without which I won't be able to survive,' she said.
Initially held in a Vermont facility, she was transferred to a Louisiana immigration detention center, where she filed a petition arguing that her detention was unlawful and that she feared persecution if returned to Russia because she had participated in protests against the war in Ukraine. She was moved to federal criminal custody in May after being charged with smuggling.
At the time of her arrest, Petrova was working at a Harvard lab, where she had developed computer scripts to analyze images from a microscope that scientists say could transform cancer detection. Her colleagues told NBC News that she was the only person on the team with the rare combination of skills needed to interpret the data. 'That was only her. It was only her,' Leon Peshkin, her mentor and a principal research scientist at Harvard, previously said.
Petrova described being confused and isolated after her arrest, saying she was held in a cell without contact with her lawyer or colleagues. 'Nobody knew what was happening to me,' she said. 'I didn't have any contact, not to my lawyer, not to Leon, not to anybody.'
In late May, a federal judge in Vermont ordered her release from immigration custody citing concerns about the legal basis for her visa revocation and extended detention. She faces another immigration court hearing in July.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economist
2 hours ago
- Economist
The War Room newsletter: Why Israel attacked Iran—and what comes next
After decades of rising secularism, Christianity is holding its ground—and gaining among the young Its plan was to hold off a Chinese attack until America turned up. What now? MAGA-world flirts with forces that once tore Europe apart His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families' grief
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
What we know about the Israeli strikes on Iran
NBC News' Keir Simmons shares what we know about Israel's massive attack on Iran that struck nuclear sites and killed senior Iranian scientists and top military officials.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Former NFL star Antonio Brown wanted on attempted murder charge in Miami
Former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown is wanted on an attempted murder charge in Miami, according to an arrest warrant. The warrant, signed by a judge Wednesday and provided by the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, lists the charges as attempted second degree murder with a $10,000 bond. Brown did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment. It is not clear if he has a lawyer. The charge stems from a May 16 incident outside of an amateur boxing event in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami, where videos circulating online appeared to show Brown in a melee where gunshots could be heard. According to the warrant for Brown's arrest, Florida Highway Patrol officers were working off-duty as security for the boxing event when several people approached a lieutenant with reports of hearing gunshots outside. Multiple witnesses identified Brown as the shooter, the warrant states, who was patted down and detained. Brown, 36, was not armed at the time. The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers wideout then posted on X the next morning, stating he was not arrested and was the victim in the attack. 'I was jumped by multiple individuals who tried to steal my jewelry and cause physical harm to me. Contrary to some video circulating, Police temporarily detained me until they received my side of the story and then released me,' Brown wrote. But after reviewing security footage the following day, officers identified Brown as punching another man, sparking three other individuals to join the fight, according to the warrant. The footage then allegedly showed Brown taking the firearm of a security officer and approaching the man he had punched. Cell phone video captured two shots fired, with the man Brown attacked "ducking" after the first shot was heard, the warrant states. During their investigation, officers found two spent shell casings and an empty firearm holster at the scene. In an interview with authorities, the man who was allegedly attacked stated he had known Brown since 2022 and positively identified him as the person who shot at him, grazing his neck, according to the warrant. The man had visible injuries and was treated at the hospital the night of the incident. The 36-year-old Brown has faced multiple run-ins with authorities over the years and throughout his 12-year career in the NFL, much of which was spent with the Pittsburgh Steelers following his 2010 draft. Brown was released from the New England Patriots after one game in 2019 amid sexual assault allegations made by a former trainer, a lawsuit that was ultimately settled in 2021. Brown denied the allegations. Brown was then signed by the Buccaneers, where he played for two seasons, during which he faced a three-game suspension for faking his Covid-19 vaccination status. His life off the field continued to stir controversy as Brown landed himself on probation for attacking a truck driver in Hollywood, Florida in 2020. In late 2021, Brown ended his NFL career in a dramatic fashion, puling off his jersey and walking off the field at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey before the end of Tampa Bay's game against the New York Jets.
