WOODLAND — The man accused of unlawfully taking a possible COVID-19 specimen from Sutter Davis Hospital made a plea agreement Tuesday that will provide him with intensive mental-health treatment.
Shaun Lamar Moore, appearing in Yolo Superior Court via videoconference from a residential treatment facility, pleaded guilty to a felony count of second-degree burglary, which carries a maximum punishment of three years in custody.
But Judge David Rosenberg deferred that judgment as part of the plea deal, which calls for Moore’s enrollment in Yolo County’s Mental Health Court — a minimum 18-month court-based program in which participants receive treatment and consistent monitoring with the goal of reducing or eliminating their arrests, jail time and hospitalizations.
If Moore successfully completes the program, “the case will go away,” Rosenberg told the defendant during Tuesday’s hearing. “If you violate or fail (the rules), it could send you to prison.”
“We’re going to do everything we can to help you, Mr. Moore,” Rosenberg added, encouraging him consider the Mental Health Court team — comprising attorneys, social workers, probation officers and others “as your mom and dad. Good luck to you.”
“You have a good day,” Moore, 40, told the judge.
Authorities said Moore, who was homeless at the time, posed as a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employee when he walked into Sutter Davis Hospital on April 11 and requested the specimen, which staff handed over despite Moore’s lack of identification or CDC credentials.
Sutter Davis employees alerted police after seeing Moore leave the property on a bicycle, followed several minutes later by the arrival of the state Department of Health courier who was supposed to pick up the specimen. The incident triggered “a rather large and disruptive public health emergency,” Yolo County prosecutors said in previously filed court documents.
Officers found the undisturbed specimen several hours later at a CVS Pharmacy store in The Marketplace shopping center and returned it to the hospital. Sutter Health officials later released a statement pledging to conduct an internal investigation into the matter.
Recognizing Moore’s mental-health needs, the court released him from custody under the state’s emergency zero-bail order, only to see him land back in custody days later after allegedly committing petty theft and sexual battery offenses in Woodland and West Sacramento.
Those charges were dismissed Tuesday as part of the plea agreement, along with additional counts stemming from the alleged specimen theft including attempted possession of a restricted biological agent.
Meanwhile, asked on Tuesday whether Sutter’s internal investigation led to any protocol changes, a spokeswoman for Sutter Health offered the following statement:
“Sutter Davis Hospital is committed to providing high-quality care. As part of that ongoing commitment, we continually look for ways to best support and protect our patients, staff and community, which can include enhancing training or adjusting procedures or policies.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene.