Woman Indicted in Biofem Shooting

A yearlong probe into the attempted slaying of an Irvine drug company executive took a new turn Wednesday when Orange County grand jurors indicted on weapons charges the lab assistant of a doctor police believe masterminded the elaborate murder plot.

The unexpected move comes as investigators struggle to find the masked gunman who last year wounded Biofem Inc. CEO James Patrick Riley as he arrived for work.

Valerie Kesler, 37, was indicted for transporting and possessing two illegal assault weapons--charges that carry a maximum sentence of nearly nine years in prison. Kesler is not believed to be the shooter, but prosecutors said she has not been eliminated as a suspect in the murder plot.

Authorities said they discovered an Uzi handgun and a Belgian rifle during a search of Kesler’s Newport Beach home and car days after Riley was shot.

Prosecutors allege that Kesler was given at least one of the weapons by Biofem’s director of science, Dr. Larry C. Ford, just as police were beginning to suspect him as the brains behind the plot.

“We believe that the Uzi was given to her by Larry Ford so that she would dispose of it,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ebrahim Baytieh. “Larry Ford knew that police were zeroing in on him . . . and that his house was going to be searched.”

But Kesler’s attorney accused authorities of turning to the grand jury in an attempt to squeeze his client for more information as they continue a desperate hunt for the gunman.

Attorney John Kremer said Kesler has fully cooperated with investigators for more than a year, telling them everything she knows in the belief they would not charge her with the weapons violations.

“This is a blatant attempt to coerce her to produce the identity of the shooter, despite the fact that she has told them repeatedly that she has no idea who the shooter is,” Kremer said. “She was used, manipulated and abused, and now she’s being discarded.”

The indictment is the latest chapter in a long-running saga set amid a backdrop of the South African military, germ warfare projects and high-stakes pharmaceutical research.

As Riley arrived for work on Feb. 28, 2000, a gunman clad in black fired a pistol at close range. The bullet ricocheted off Riley’s cheekbone and smashed through an office window.

Days after the shooting, investigators turned to Kesler--who had spent years working alongside Ford and was having an affair with him. Kesler told police she knew Ford was well-connected with South African government officials and that the Irvine doctor was involved in developing biochemical toxins for them, according to search warrants filed in the case. Ford committed suicide within days of the shooting.

After her interview with police, detectives began a search of Ford’s Woodbridge home, discovering a cache of illegal weapons and explosives buried in his backyard. They also found cholera- and typhoid fever-causing bacteria in the home, which forced the evacuation of 200 Irvine residents.

The discoveries prompted the FBI to launch a “weapons of mass destruction” investigation focusing on Ford, who was involved in South Africa’s secret biochemical warfare program during the apartheid era.

Meanwhile, police continue struggling to identify the person who pulled the trigger. One man who might hold the secret, Dino D’Saachs, was convicted three weeks ago of driving the shooter away from the scene. But D’Saachs, a Los Angeles businessman and close friend of Ford’s, has remained silent about who pulled the trigger.

Prosecutors declined to explain why it took so long to indict Kesler. But a source familiar with the investigation said authorities believe she has withheld important information about the shooting and where Ford may have stashed other weapons--both biological and conventional.

Kremer, however, said Kesler has been an invaluable resource for investigators ever since the beginning of their probe. Without her, the attorney said, police might never have discovered Ford’s hidden weapons. But now, he said, Kesler feels betrayed.

In recent weeks, prosecutors subpoenaed Kesler to testify before the grand jury. She arrived at the panel’s Santa Ana office Wednesday morning but declined to testify, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, authorities said.

Soon afterward, Irvine detectives arrested her outside the grand jury’s room. She was booked into the Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, and is scheduled to be arraigned today.