Free Republic

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday declined to jail two men accused of impersonating federal agents and supplying Secret Service personnel with gifts, dealing a blow to prosecutors who had argued that the defendants pose a danger and should be detained. "There's been no showing that national security information has been compromised," U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey said. Harvey ordered both men to remain in home confinement, subject to GPS monitoring, with their parents and that they surrender their passports and stay away from airports and embassies. Harvey agreed to stay his order until Wednesday morning...

The two men accused of impersonating federal operatives and gifting Secret Service agents rent-free apartments, smartphones, TVs and other items were ordered to home confinement this week after a federal judge ruled they were not a flight risk. Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Sher-Ali, 35, were released to their families on Wednesday and will remain under house arrest. The two will also be monitored by GPS technology, according to court documents outlining the conditions of their release. Taherzadeh was spotted by photographers entering his father’s home in Sterling, Va. Wednesday afternoon and waved to the cameras, holding a shopping bag...

A judge in Washington D.C. denied on Tuesday federal prosecutors' motion to detain the two men impersonating federal agents because he says he isn't convinced that there are links to Pakistan intelligence. He also claimed that deleting social media posts wasn't proof that the other defendant would tamper with evidence, as federal lawyers argued. I am going to 'deny the government's request that the two defendants be held pending trial,' Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey said during proceedings Tuesday. The decision comes after it was revealed in proceedings earlier Tuesday that Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Sher-Ali, 35, were 'inadvertently...

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged two men they say were posing as federal agents, giving free apartments and other gifts to U.S. Secret Service agents, including one who worked on the first lady’s security detail. The two men – Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 36 – were taken into custody as more than a dozen FBI agents charged into a luxury apartment building in Southeast Washington on Wednesday evening.