Homeland Security officials did not immediately return telephone calls
seeking comment today.
From The Washington Post, 11/30/06:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/30/AR2006113000603.html
DHS Official Admits Aiding Immigrants for Bribes
Department Supervisor Pleads Guilty to Pocketing More Than $600,000 in
Payments
By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 30, 2006; 2:02 PM
A Department of Homeland Security supervisor pleaded guilty today to
pocketing more than $600,000 in bribes in exchange for falsifying
immigration documents to help Asian immigrants obtain U.S.
citizenship.
Prosecutors said Robert T. Schofield issued fake documentation for
hundreds of immigrants during an 10-year scheme he ran out of his
Fairfax County office.
Schofield, 57, was a supervisor for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services, which processes immigration applications, until he resigned
in November.
Court documents said Schofield employed a network of brokers who
brought him immigrants needing citizenship, a green card or entry into
the United States.
Earning up to $10,000 per immigrant, he used some of the money to buy
his $387,000 Fairfax County home and to pay down the mortgage, the
documents said.
When Schofield was arrested in June, federal agents found $3,900 cash
in his jacket pocket inside his office.
When he was arrested, Schofield supervised a staff of nine at the
immigration agency's Washington District Office.
He had been the acting assistant director for examinations there from
1998 to 2004, supervising 50 employees.
Schofield was not asked by the judge to explain his actions today in
U.S. District Court in Alexandria when he pleaded guilty to bribery
and unlawful procurement of citizenship or naturalization.
His lawyers declined comment.
He faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 23.
But court documents indicate that accusations against the 30-year
federal employee were not new.
Over the past decade, federal officials investigated numerous
allegations of bribery involving Schofield and Asian immigration
applicants when he worked at the former Immigration and Naturalization
Service, according to court documents unsealed when Schofield was
charged in June.
Schofield was demoted at one point for "conduct unbecoming a
government employee,'' the documents say, and had an "inappropriate
relationship" with a woman connected to an INS criminal probe.
When confronted about that relationship by INS officials, Schofield
fled to East Asia, where he made $36,000 worth of unauthorized
purchases on his government-issued credit card, according to court
documents.
It remains unclear when Schofield returned to the United States, how
the previous investigations ended and how Schofield became a
supervisor when the new Department of Homeland Security took over
INS's functions in 2003.
Homeland Security officials did not immediately return telephone calls
seeking comment today.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald L. Walutes said the evidence against
Schofield in the current case was overwhelming and that the government
"very strongly opposes" an effort by defense lawyers to get him
released on bond before his sentencing.
Court documents said the government has identified 184 illegal
immigrants who falsely received U.S. citizenship from Schofield, but
Walutes said the government believes the actual number is in the
hundreds.
"We have to go out and arrest these people,'' Walutes said.
"It's a huge endeavor.''
Defense lawyer Alan Yamamoto said Schofield plans to help his old
office sort through all of the immigrant files he handled, to spell
out exactly how many false documents were issued, and that would be
easier if he were free.
U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris disagreed and ordered Schofield
back to jail after today's hearing.
The brokers who located the immigrants for Schofield pocketed more
than $2.5 million from the scheme, in addition to the more than
$600,000 they paid him, court documents said.
One of those brokers, Chinese citizen Qiming Ye, was charged along
with Schofield in June and pleaded guilty last month.
He would have testified against Schofield had the case gone to trial.
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Whew. Thought you'd heard it all, eh? You ain't heard nuthin' yet.
Harry
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