A Baltimore-based attorney has been arrested and charged with obstruction of justice and witness intimidation, after allegedly threatening a rape victim and her husband with deportation, saying that they could get swept up by federal immigration agents if they tried to go to court and testify against his client, who has been charged “with second-degree rape, third- and fourth-degree sex offenses, and second-degree assault,” according to the Baltimore Sun.
Attorney Christos Vasiliades, and his accomplice Edgar Ivan Rodriguez, also offered the couple $3,000 in cash “if their absence in court got the case ‘thrown out,’ court documents show, then encouraged the couple to track down the defendant and ‘kick his ass.’” According to the Washington Post, the couple felt threatened by the interaction and went straight to law enforcement. Authorities then equipped the couple with a recording device and had them arrange a follow-up meeting with Vasiliades and Rodriguez, who again brought up deportation threats, saying ICE was “looking at this case.” The Baltimore Sun:
"You know how things are with Trump's laws now; someone goes to court, and boom, they get taken away," Rodriguez told the victim's husband in the recorded conversation, according to an indictment by the Maryland attorney general's office.
Vasiliades also offered an alternative solution: Just beat up his client.
"If we were back home where I'm from, from Greece ... we would go (expletive) him up, that's it, if you want to do that, that's fine," Vasiliades was recorded saying, according to court documents. "He's an (expletive), I think you should find him and kick his (expletive), personally."
Vasiliades was arrested Tuesday afternoon in the hallway of the Courthouse East building, as the trial of his client, Mario Aguilar-Delosantos, was set to start, according to the sheriff's office and court records.
“Part of it, we allege, is a good old fashioned bribe, but the threat that the witness would be deported is sadly new,” said Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, “and I think it arises out of the climate of fear in the immigrant community over the change in policy for deportations.” A state of fear has been a constant feature of Trump’s administration, and it’s something Vasiliades and his accomplice gladly took full advantage of.
As the Washington Post notes, deportation fears in immigrant communities—both documented and undocumented—have lead to a drop in victims reporting assault to local law enforcement agencies, with Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo revealing data last month showing that the number of Latinos reporting rape is down nearly 43 percent from last year. Vasiliades and his accomplice may have also taken advantage of documented incidents of ICE agents stalking undocumented immigrants both inside and outside of courthouses, which has even lead California’s Supreme Court Chief Justice, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, to publicly rebuke Jeff Sessions and DHS Sec. John Kelly for refusing to recognize courthouses as a “sensitive” location where immigration operations should not be conducted.
“If crime victims feel that they’re in jeopardy of being deported if they report a crime, we’re going to get more crime,” Attorney General Frosh said. “And I just really give a lot of props to the victim of this crime. She was victimized twice, but had the courage to report it to law enforcement, and it makes us safer when she can do that”:
City prosecutors were handling the rape case, and asked the attorney general's office to get involved due to a possible conflict, Frosh said.
The state's attorney's office declined to comment on the case but said it "has and will continue to partner and combine our efforts with the attorney general's office, not only in protecting immigrant populations but also in the prosecution of these individuals."