Guyanese National Charged with Smuggling Indian Nationals to the United States

A Guyanese national has been indicted on charges of conspiracy and alien smuggling in connection with her role in the smuggling or attempted smuggling of four Indian nationals to the United States.

Annita Devi Gerald, aka Annita Rampersad, 52, was charged in a nine-count indictment returned yesterday by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Texas. Gerald was arrested by ICE special agents in Houston on Nov. 17, 2009, and has been held without bond since that time.

According to the indictment, from approximately April 2009 to Nov. 17, 2009, Gerald and others conspired to smuggle four Indian nationals into the United States. Allegedly, Gerald and her co-conspirators fraudulently obtained Belizean visas for the Indian nationals and escorted them from India to Belize, moving through various countries in Central and South America. Gerald allegedly provided lodging for all four Indian nationals in Belize while further smuggling arrangements were made.

In August 2009, Gerald allegedly arranged transportation for one of the Indian nationals to cross the border from Belize into Mexico where he met with Gerald’s co-conspirator, who escorted him through Mexico. In Monterrey, Mexico, Gerald’s co-conspirator paid a Mexico-based smuggler to illegally transport the individual across the Mexico-U.S. border to Houston. After making these arrangements, Gerald’s co-conspirator allegedly flew to Houston where the co-conspirator received the Indian national at a motel approximately 10 days later. The smugglers who delivered the Indian national to Gerald’s co-conspirator in Houston allegedly demanded and received a smuggling payment prior to releasing him. The Indian national smuggled to Houston is currently being administratively detained by ICE, awaiting removal. The whereabouts of the other three Indian nationals allegedly harbored by Gerald in Belize is currently unknown.

If convicted, Gerald faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for conspiracy, and 10 years in prison for each of the four counts of encouraging and inducing aliens to come to the United States for profit. Additionally, she is subject to the maximum penalty for each of the four counts of bringing aliens to the United States for profit, which is 10 years for a first or second violation, and 15 years for any other violation. She is also subject to a fine of up to $250,000.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.

The investigation was conducted by ICE’s Office of Investigations in Miami and Houston, with the critical assistance of the ICE Attaché offices in El Salvador, Ecuador, Brazil, Singapore and Panama, as well as the ICE Office of Intelligence in Washington, and the Alien Smuggling Interdiction Unit of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Washington. El Salvadoran authorities, particularly the Direción General de Migración y Extranjería (El Salvador Immigrations) and the Grupo Especial de Investigaciones Nacionales e Internacionales (El Salvador Police-GEINI) also provided invaluable assistance.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jerry Massie and Jessica Morris of the Criminal Division’s Domestic Security Section, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward Gallagher and Douglas Davis of the Southern District of Texas.

May 26, 2005 Guyana Chronicle

Woman remanded in jobs scam case

A FORTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Guyanese woman who lives in Suriname was yesterday remanded to prison in a jobs scam false pretence case. Magistrate Maxwell Edwards refused bail to Anita Devi Gerald after she pleaded not guilty on two counts.

Particulars of the offences said the defendant, with intent to defraud, took US$2,000 each from Berbice sugar workers Zaheer Khan and Ramkaran Mangal, on May 3 and 9, respectively, by falsely pretending she was in a position to get work for them in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The victims were lured by someone else who told them Gerald could secure employment for them to earn US$300 weekly and the money they gave her was to pay their passages and other expenses, police said.

It is alleged that Gerald took the virtual complainants to a West Coast Demerara house where she abandoned them. She is to make her next court appearance on May 27. http://www.guyanachronicle.com/ARCHIVES/archive%2026-05-05.html

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/February/10-crm-148.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Guyanese National Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Indian Nationals to the United States

Annita Devi Gerald, a Guyanese national, pleaded guilty today to bringing an alien into the United States for commercial gain, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno of the Southern District of Texas and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary John Morton.

Gerald, 52, pleaded guilty today in Houston before U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Hughes. At sentencing, scheduled for May 17, 2010, Gerald faces a mandatory minimum prison sentence of three years, and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

“Today’s guilty plea puts another alien smuggling organizer out of business,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division. “Traveling the globe seeking people willing to pay for illegal entry into the United States, this defendant sought personal riches in exchange for disregarding the immigration laws of our country.”

“My office will continue to work closely with the Department of Justice and ICE to pursue international smugglers who engage in elaborate schemes to import undocumented and/or fraudulently documented aliens into the United States through Houston and South Texas,” said U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno of the Southern District of Texas.

“ICE targets organizations that try to compromise the integrity of our immigration system for the sake of profit,” said ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton . “The network of ICE offices around the world as well as our partnerships with law enforcement agencies around the globe, enable ICE to shut down these human smuggling operations.”

According to plea documents, Gerald provided assistance to undocumented aliens from India in their efforts to illegally enter the United States. Gerald admitted that she and her co-conspirators prepared letters of invitation for several Indian nationals from a trading and agricultural company affiliated with Gerald. These letters falsely proclaimed the Indian nationals were farming experts whose expertise was needed for a project in Belize. The letters were used to assist the aliens in obtaining the Belizean visas that enabled them to board aircraft and transit through numerous countries in route to the United States.

According to plea documents, in July 2009, Gerald escorted two Indian nationals on a series of flights from Singapore to Belize. In addition, Gerald admitted to providing lodging for the aliens in Belize while they awaited additional smuggling arrangements; to obtaining a Mexican immigration stamp for one alien’s passport to facilitate domestic travel in Mexico; and arranging for transportation from Belize to Mexico for one of the aliens.

Upon Gerald’s direction, one of the aliens was smuggled into Mexico and then into the United States, according to court documents. Gerald was arrested in Houston on Nov. 17, 2009, on a criminal complaint charging her with conspiracy to commit alien smuggling, before any of the other aliens could be smuggled into the United States.

The investigation was conducted by ICE’s Office of Investigations in Miami and Houston, with the critical assistance of the ICE Attaché offices in El Salvador, Ecuador, Brazil, Singapore and Panama, as well as the ICE Office of Intelligence in Washington, and the Alien Smuggling Interdiction Unit of Customs and Border Protection in Washington. El Salvadoran authorities, particularly the Direción General de Migración y Extranjería (El Salvador Immigrations) and the Grupo Especial de Investigaciones Nacionales e Internacionales (El Salvador Police-GEINI) also provided invaluable assistance.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jerry Massie and Jessica Morris of the Criminal Division’s Domestic Security Section, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward Gallagher and Douglas Davis of the Southern District of Texas.

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