Vipul Bhrigu, a former postdoc at the University of Michigan who pleaded guilty to sabotaging the research of a student in his lab, failed to appear before the judge at Washtenaw County Courthouse (pictured), yesterday. As a result, a bench warrant has been issued for his arrest with bond set at $22,000.
Bhrigu had been cooperating with the court and hired a lawyer, Dan Geherin of Simon & Geherin to represent him. In July, at a sentencing hearing, he was ordered to serve six months probation and pay $8,800 in restitution. A second restitution hearing had been set for yesterday, 26 October, in which he could have been ordered to pay as much as $72,000 more. But Bhrigu left the country, returning to India, apparently in violation of his probation. Bhrigu has said that his visa to be in the United States was dependent upon him having a job, and so he was forced to leave, hoping to fulfil the court-ordered probation from India.
When Bhrigu did not appear before the court, a warrant was issued for his arrest and bond set. Theo Ross, Bhrigu’s former boss says that she and Arianne Slay, the prosecutor on the case negotiated with Geherin and landed on a restitution figure of $22,000. This number was arrived upon, Ross says, in part because it was deemed a sum that Bhrigu might pay. Slay says Geherin will take that number to Bhrigu. If he chooses to pay, he will be square with the University, but the warrant may remain in effect, until such time as he serves out his probation. Ross says she’ll be surprised if they see the money and regrets not pushing to have Bhrigu charged with a felony. Instead the charge was a misdemeanor — malicious destruction of property.
When our story appeared at the end of September, it provoked much discussion on our site and on several blogs that referenced the story. Not surprisingly, perhaps, many suspect that sabotage is quite common:
Chris Lee at ars technica wasn’t quite shocked and appalled that this had happened.
Derek Lowe at In the Pipeline was surprised that more of this doesn’t go on in academic labs.
And Dr. Becca at Fumbling Towards Tenure Track has a comment board full of people recounting similar experiences.
Neither Bhrigu nor Geherin responded to requests for comment. Stay tuned.
Image: Brendan Maher