MONROE, La. (AP) — A federal judge has ordered the transfer of a Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher facing deportation from Louisiana, where she was detained by immigration authorities, to Massachusetts, where she has been charged with trying to smuggle frog embryos.
Kseniia Petrova, 30, has been detained since February and filed a petition seeking her release. She was charged Wednesday with one count of smuggling goods into the United States, shortly after another federal judge had set a hearing date on her petition.
Petrova’s transfer was ordered Thursday. Her lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, had said he expected that to happen in the next few weeks.
If convicted, Petrova faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Petrova had been vacationing in France, where she stopped at a lab specializing in splicing superfine sections of frog embryos and obtained a package of samples to be used for research.
