Free Republic

A top official at the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Washington fled the United States with his family during the weekend, just days after being arrested in Virginia on charges of soliciting sex from an undercover detective posing as a 13-year-old girl. Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Krantz said that he knew a request to the UAE to waive diplomatic immunity in the case was "a difficult one," but that he was "frustrated" that embassy officials did not show "good faith" in rendering a decision -- and instead turned Salem Al-Mazrooei into "an international fugitive cloaked in diplomatic immunity."

Diplomat sent back home to U.A.E. Salem Al-Mazrooei can not return to the United States unless it is to face the charges against him. By Lindsey Nair 981-3334 The Roanoke Times e-mail this story Bedford County may never get the chance to prosecute a United Arab Emirates diplomat charged with Internet crimes after his country allowed him to leave the United States this weekend, officials said. Salem Al-Mazrooei, who is charged with five counts of electronic solicitation of a minor and one count of attempted indecent liberties with a minor, had his assignment terminated by the United Arab Emirates and...

Bedford County officials are waiting to see whether the federal government will revoke immunity for a foreign diplomat they say showed up in the Forest area yesterday expecting a tryst with a 13-year-old girl. Dr. Salem Al-Mazrooei, a diplomat from United Arab Emirates, has not been charged with any crimes, but Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown said if Al-Mazrooei's immunity is revoked, he will be charged with four felony counts of electronic solicitation of a minor. Operation Blue Ridge Thunder, a group of Bedford County investigators who focus on Internet crimes against children, has been working this case for about...