Authorities released this security photo of a man, later identified as Shaun Lamar Moore, suspected of taking a COVID-19 sample from Sutter Davis Hospital. Courtesy photo

WOODLAND — The man accused of taking a possible COVID-19 specimen from Sutter Davis Hospital last weekend impersonated an employee from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, his alleged act triggering “a rather large and disruptive public health emergency,” according to documents obtained by The Davis Enterprise.

The ruse is outlined in a motion by the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office to deny bail to the suspect, 40-year-old Shaun Lamar Moore, who made his first court appearance via videoconference Wednesday from the Yolo County Jail.

While Yolo Superior Court Judge David Rosenberg agreed the incident was “not a typical crime,” he ordered Moore released from jail on supervised own-recognizance status pending his next court hearing in late May.

“I suspect this particular defendant has some mental-health issues that have to be sorted out, and I would invite the public defender to determine Mr. Moore’s (mental) competence,” Rosenberg said after hearing attorney arguments on the matter.

He ordered that Moore, who is homeless, be fitted with a GPS monitoring device and stay at least 100 yards away from Sutter Davis Hospital, where he allegedly walked away with the specimen Saturday afternoon.

Prosecutors have filed two felony charges and one misdemeanor count against Moore, including attempted possession of a restricted biological agent, second-degree burglary and petty theft by false pretenses.

The Yolo County Public Defender’s Office opposed the DA’s bail motion, in which Deputy District Attorney Preston Schaub argued that despite a statewide emergency bail schedule that sets a zero-bail amount for misdemeanor and low-level felony criminal offenses, the court should deny Moore’s release based on factors including his public safety risk, the seriousness of the offense, prior convictions and likelihood to appear in court.

“In the case at hand, the defendant entered Sutter Davis Hospital, used his true and correct name, and impersonated a federal employee from the Centers for Disease Control. The defendant informed staff that he was there to pick up a sample of COVID-19 virus,” the motion says.

“Coincidentally, staff were aware that there was supposed to be a courier for the California Department of Public Health arriving that same day to retrieve a biological sample thought to contain COVID-19 for confirmation testing,” it continues. “Staff were under the impression that the defendant was the same courier and released the COVID-19 sample to him.”

Suspicions arose, however, after staff noticed the man leaving the area on a bicycle — the mistake confirmed when the actual courier arrived several minutes later, the motion says.

(Sutter Health officials, who earlier this week said they are taking the incident “very seriously” and conducting an internal investigation into how it occurred, declined to comment Wednesday about the released details.)

Hospital staff called police, who through witnesses and surveillance video tracked the man — believed to be Moore — to a nearby CVS pharmacy where the specimen was abandoned outside in a shopping cart.

“Employees of that pharmacy retrieved the sample, placing it inside the establishment, not knowing what it was,” the motion says. “This caused a rather large and disruptive health emergency requiring a full scale law enforcement response. ”

Moore had left the scene by the time police recovered the specimen, but he was arrested on Cowell Boulevard the following day.

The bail motion claims that Moore poses “a great risk to public safety,” given his alleged ability to gain access to the specimen in a controlled lab setting, prior convictions on theft and DUI charges, a pending vandalism case in Sacramento County, and mental health issues including bipolar disorder that is not being treated.

“As a result, the likelihood of him obeying court orders, returning to court, abiding by social distancing protocols and acting in a rational manner is low,” the document says.

But Moore’s public defender Richard Van Zandt disagreed, arguing in court that Moore is not accused of an offense listed among the exemptions in the emergency bail schedule and has never violated probation nor failed to appear at his hearings.

As for the current alleged offense, “he had the sample less than three hours. If he made an attempt to open it, there’s no evidence he did, because there’s no sign of tampering,” Van Zandt said. He also told Rosenberg his office will work with Moore “so he can get the bipolar medication that he needs.”

Moore’s next court hearing is set for May 27.

— Reach Lauren Keene at [email protected] or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene. We’ve put all COVID-19 news stories and local columns outside our paywall, to make sure all the information on local coronavirus response gets disseminated as widely as possible. To subscribe to The Enterprise and support local journalism, click here.