INDICTMENT UNSEALED CHARGING CITY MAN
WITH SMUGGLING OF CHILEAN ALIENS
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – A federal grand jury indictment was unsealed today in Oklahoma City charging JORGE ANGEL KUSANOVIC, 43, of Oklahoma City, with 15 felony counts involving alien smuggling, encouraging illegal entry, harboring aliens, and possessing false immigration documents, announced John C. Richter, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.
“Alien smuggling preys on vulnerable and desperate individuals who are exploited and viewed as commodities,” said U.S. Attorney John C. Richter. “I applaud the cooperative efforts of the law enforcement agencies who are working hard to fight this international problem right here in Oklahoma.”
James E. Finch, Special Agent in Charge, said “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will vigorously target any individual or group that is engaged in the exploitation of others through the transnational crime of human trafficking and alien smuggling.”
"The dark nature of human smuggling is dangerous, and sometimes fatal, for those who foolishly put their fate into the hands of a smuggler," said John Chakwin Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Dallas. "ICE and the other Oklahoma Task Force agencies will work together closely to identify, investigate and prosecute these criminals."
The indictment alleges that Kusanovic, a citizen of Italy, Chile and a naturalized citizen of the United States, encouraged mainly poor Chilean women and men, including five specific individuals, to enter the United States with promises of higher paying jobs and a better life. It is alleged that Kusanovic would have the individuals fly from Chile to Mexico and arrange for them to be smuggled across the border into the United States. Once inside the United States, the indictment alleges that Kusanovic provided them with counterfeit green cards and social security cards to facilitate their presence in the country and allow them to get jobs. Kusanovic is also alleged to have concealed and harboured the aliens from detection by authorities by allowing the aliens to live in his home, transported them with his vehicles, assisted them find jobs, and helped them cash their pay checks. To maintain control over the aliens, it is alleged that Kusanovic illegally intercepted and recorded their telephone calls and personal conversations without their consent.
Kusanovic was arrested earlier today without incident and appeared for arraignment this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Bacharach. A trial date has been set for April 13, 2009.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
If convicted, Kusanovic faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the counts alleging alien smuggling, harboring an alien, and immigration document fraud. He faces up to 5 years on the counts of encouraging illegal entry.
This case was the result of a joint investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Oklahoma City Police Department, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and the U.S. State Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Yancey and Shan Patel, Trial Attorney with the DOJ Civil Rights Division.
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