Guilty Plea Entered in UCI Radioactive Assault

A former UC Irvine lab technician pleaded guilty Wednesday in Superior Court to unlawful disposal of radioactive material in connection with the smearing of laboratory material on a co-worker’s chair last summer, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Andrew Andris Blakis, 32, of Los Angeles was sentenced to 120 days in jail and three years’ probation for the single felony, and ordered to have no contact with former colleague Jingtong Zuo.

Blakis, who also pleaded guilty to separate misdemeanor counts of battery and assault, must pay for any future medical costs resulting from the assault, the judge ruled. He must report to jail March 17.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lance Jensen called the sentence appropriate. “Jail time and pleading guilty to a felony is not a slap on the wrist,” he said. “We are satisfied with the disposition.”

Zuo, who still works at the university, has suffered no apparent ill effects. But family members said in August that it is difficult to assess the potential damage because radioactivity can alter DNA and create carcinogens that cannot be detected immediately.

Zuo was exposed to 450 millirems, an amount equal to the radiation an average person receives in a year. She was exposed to P32, a waxy, colorless chemical for six hours over two days.

Blakis, who was hired by the university in 1998, resigned July 8, a week after the assault. He believed Zuo had contaminated a communal work station with a radioactive isotope and retaliated, Jensen said.