Yolo County prosecutors announced Friday they have requested an arrest warrant for a former UC Davis researcher’s friend, who allegedly cleared volatile chemicals and other evidence from a campus apartment before authorities arrived on the scene.
Tashari El-Sheikh, 32, faces a single count of being an accessory to a felony for his reported actions, which, according to recent courtroom testimony, included stashing chemical-filled boxes in trash Dumpsters at two West Davis apartment complexes and an Anderson Road shopping center.
“He knew what he was doing was getting rid of the materials to protect David Snyder,” said Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Cabral, referring to the former UCD chemistry researcher accused of crimes including possession of explosives and materials with the intent to make them, reckless disposal of hazardous waste and possessing weapons on university grounds.
Cabral told The Enterprise last month that El-Sheikh is believed to be out of the country and facing immigration issues. It’s unclear when, or if, he will return.
He has no prior criminal history, according to Cabral.
Yolo Superior Court Judge David Reed will rule at the end of Snyder’s preliminary hearing on Sept. 6 whether there is sufficient evidence for Snyder to stand trial on the 17 felony counts, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
Police testified on the hearing’s first day that Snyder was overheard placing a phone call from the Sutter Davis Hospital emergency room, where he had sought treatment for an accidental explosion that ripped through his left hand during the early hours of Jan. 17.
“He said, ‘The bucket in the closet — get rid of it. Get rid of the bucket with the used syringes,’ ” Davis police Officer Lee Benson recalled during the July 26 proceeding.
On the other end of the line was El-Sheikh, a postdoctoral employee in UCD’s mechanical and aerospace engineering department, as well as a Russell Park neighbor who has known Snyder since childhood, according to court testimony.
“He said David asked him to move (the chemicals) so he wouldn’t get into trouble,” UCD police Detective Kevin Skaife said. He testified that El-Sheikh gathered the chemicals into boxes — retrieving a couple of boxes from his own apartment when he ran out at Snyder’s — and moved them to several locations in the Davis city limits.
Skaife said El-Sheikh led officers to the hiding spots, which included Dumpsters at the Arlington Farms and Portage Bay Apartments in the 2900 block of Portage Bay West. El-Sheikh told police he also dumped a syringe-filled plastic box at the Save Mart shopping center on Anderson Road, but it was gone by the time police got there.
Among the four boxes of chemicals that were recovered, authorities found substances that tested positive for the explosives triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD), both of which are considered highly unstable, testified West Sacramento police Sgt. Jason Winger, a member of the Yolo County Bomb Squad.
Police also testified that El-Sheikh moved several guns from Snyder’s bed to a nearby safe, which was later found to contain five firearms, two knives and a large amount of ammunition. It took authorities about 20 hours to clear the apartment of the chemicals, during which about 40 neighboring units and a day-care center were evacuated.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene