SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 News) – A Utah woman charged with possession of a “weapon of mass destruction” and two counts of aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult back in December was denied a chance at bail during a court hearing on Tuesday.

Janie Lynn Ridd, 50, who is currently being held in the Salt Lake County Jail appeared in front of Judge Kara Pettit in 3rd District Court where her attorney requested a bail reduction on her behalf during a scheduling conference.

The judge made her ruling after the facts of the case were discussed in court.

Investigators said Ridd purchased Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) from a vendor for $300-worth of bitcoin on December 12, 2019, via the dark web after communicating with the seller multiple times about its use, documents state.

Ridd told the seller she was a biology teacher at a college preparatory school in Utah and needed the VRSA cultures for a science experiment on antibiotic resistance at the school, according to documents.

Investigators set up a controlled delivery of the package to Ridd’s mailbox on December 17 which contained artificial VRSA. They then observed Ridd pick up the package the next day and take it to work at which time the detectives made contact with her, and took her in for questioning.

Ridd at first told detectives the package contained coffee, then admitted it contained a “biological” which she had purchased off the dark web in order to make beer at home in the basement. She then said she had ordered some form of “staph” that was going to use for experimental purposes and to satisfy a personal curiosity she had stemming from her roommate’s recent exposure to MRSA (a bacterium that causes infections in different parts of the body).

Investigators stated in the documents that Ridd lived with a female roommate and is considered the woman’s caregiver as well as helped to take care of her roommate’s minor child. Ridd had control over the woman’s finances and personal documents and earned wages to help take care of her, documents state.

“Police reports also show the defendant and roommate were in a hostile relationship that resulted in the defendant filing for and receiving an ex-parte protective order along with gaining temporary custody of roommate’s minor son,” as stated in court documents. “The ex-parte protective order was lifted three days later and custody of roommate’s minor son returned to roommate.”

Ridd alleged her roommate was physically and emotionally abusive towards her and her roommate’s minor son and the roommate alleged the defendant was also abusive, according to documents.

“Records noted roommate and the defendant’s relationship deteriorated over the years due to mutually-claimed power issues and control-type domestic violence dynamics,” documents state.

According to documents, Ridd said her roommate had a will that gave her custody of the minor child in the event of her death but the roommate recently told her she was considering changing the will to give custody to a relative instead. Ridd also admitted to having a life insurance policy on herself and her roommate, with each being the beneficiary for the other.

During an interview with police, the roommate said after a neck surgery in March 2019, a suspicious MRSA infection was discovered on the wound and in 2019, she ended up in the hospital twice for having dangerous blood sugar levels. The roommate is not diabetic and does not take insulin however police discovered Ridd purchased insulin on the dark web in September 2019, documents state.

The roommate also said when she went to change her will, she noticed it was missing from the safe. Police later found the missing will in the glove box of Ridd’s car, according to documents.

Documents further stated that after surgery in 2019, the roommate developed an E-coli infection. The surgeon told investigators that the infection did not come from the surgery and must have been injected.

Investigators learned that according to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, (VRSA), is a strain of Staphylococcus aureus that is resistant to the antibiotic vancomycin. This species of bacteria can cause severe infections and is resistant to most antibiotics, which can have harmful outcomes including death.

Documents state VRSA is life-threatening to immune-suppressed patients and can be used as a weapon to sicken or kill humans.

On Thursday, Ridd’s court-appointed attorney withdrew himself as her counsel. A new attorney has not been determined. Her next court hearing is scheduled for February 24.

* A previous version of this story identified VRSA as a virus. That is incorrect, VRSA is a bacteria.

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