Via DOJ, the following press statement dated May 7, 2012:
U.S. Embassy Employee Arrested on Conspiracy and Bribery Charges in Scheme Involving Visa Applications
– Defendant Worked at Embassy in Venezuela –
WASHINGTON – A visa assistant for the United States Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, has been arrested on federal charges stemming from a scheme in which he allegedly accepted payments to aid people in facilitating visa applications, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and Scott Bultrowicz, Director of the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, announced today.
Christian Adolfo Paredes Uzcategui, 43, of Caracas, Venezuela, was arrested May 4, 2012, in Washington, D.C., on one charge of conspiracy and two charges of bribery. He appeared today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He pled not guilty and remains in custody pending a hearing on May 21, 2012. If convicted, the defendant could face up to five years in prison for the conspiracy charge and between two and 15 years for the bribery charges.
According to the charging documents, Paredes has been employed at the Embassy in Caracas since May 1997 and most recently worked in the Embassy’s Consular Section. As a visa assistant, he had access to Embassy databases and assisted in the processing of visa applications submitted by foreign nationals seeking entry into the United States.
Between March 2011 and January 2012, according to the charging papers, Paredes allegedly conspired with another individual to obtain illegal payments in exchange for facilitating applications for United States non-immigrant visas. The charging documents state that Paredes received more than $10,000 from the other individual, who was working with people who previously had been denied visas.
The filing of a criminal charge is merely an allegation that defendants have committed a violation of criminal law and is not evidence of guilt. Every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty in a court of law.
This case is being investigated by the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney David Mudd of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
The original statement is here.
This report only says that the Foreign Service National employee (also known as LES or Locally Employed Staff) was arrested in Washington, D.C. Since Mr. Paredes is habitually a resident of Caracas, Venezuela, one has to wonder what he was doing in Washington, D.C. Of course, he could have been in the district on a personal trip, but why would he visit Washington, D.C. instead of say, Orlando, New York or Los Angeles. Unless, he was in the district to attend a training course at FSI. Which was how, Jordanian national, Osama Esam Saleem Ayesh of US Embassy in Baghdad was charged with Theft of Public Funds and Conflict of Interest. That one was actually arrested as he got off the plane in Dulles on his way to attend a State Department training course in Arlington, Virginia.
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I’ll guess he was sent to training in VA as a ruse to actually arrest him, since the Venezuelan government is less than cooperative with US law-enforcement efforts there. It’s an easy end-game: book the flight through post’s travel office, make sure it’s direct (or have a DSS agent on the same flight to track through layover), and cuff and stuff the subject the second they disembark their flight in U.S. territory. Game, set, match.
Cuff and stuff, you are probably on the dot on this one, Dave.