Filing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia
Courtesy: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia
One of 2 males criminally charged with impersonating Department of Homeland Security representatives might himself have actually been fooled, together with a number of Secret Service representatives, into thinking his co-defendant in fact was a DHS representative, a defense attorney stated in a court filing Monday.
“The weight of the proof versusMr [Haider] Ali is not strong,” Ali’s attorney composed in the filing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
“It is far from clear that Mr. Ali ever represented himself as a federal government officer or employee, or that any such statements were known by him to be false,” the attorney, Gregory Smith, composed.
Smith’s filing states that an evaluation of Ali’s numerous interviews with a U.S. postal inspector last month “suggests that Mr. Ali may well have naively but genuinely believed” that his co-defendant, Arian Taherzadeh, was a Homeland Security Investigations unique representative “and that the work he did for Taherzadeh’s company (USSP) possibly included work that company got from DHS.”
The declare Ali, 35, came ahead of a detention hearing for Ali and Taherzadeh arranged to resume in court later onMonday The males were jailed recently.
Prosecutors desire both males, who stay in prison, held without bail, calling them a risk to the neighborhood.
But attorneys for the offenders in filings Monday asked a judge to launch them on bail, stating district attorneys are overemphasizing the severity of the case.
Ali’s attorney stated he has 4 really kids and is “badly needed back at home since his wife underwent surgery just this past Friday.”
The lawyer likewise kept in mind that even if Ali were founded guilty of the Class E felony he deals with, federal sentencing standards would likely suggest a sentence of simply absolutely no to 6 months in jail. He would likewise be qualified for a probationary sentence, the attorney included.
Prosecutors stated that because the arrest of the males recently– amidst claims they lavished presents on Secret Service representatives and offered 2 such representatives with totally free apartment or condos that generally lease for approximately $48,000 annually– “the story only gets worse” as private investigators show up extra proof.
“Because of the breakneck speed of the examination, there are numerous truths that we still do not
understand,” district attorneys composed in a court filing Sunday.
“But the facts that we do know about the Defendants — that they lied about their identities for years, stored a cache of weapons and surveillance equipment in their apartments, compromised law enforcement agents in sensitive positions, and tried to cover up their crimes — leave no doubt that their release poses a public safety risk. Both Defendants should be detained.”
The Secret Service representatives who safeguarded very first woman Jill Biden and the White House were amongst those fooled by the males’s supposed lies about being DHS representatives.
The offenders likewise had gain access to codes that might permit them to get in all of the numerous apartment or condos in the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard- location domestic complex where they preserve 5 apartment or condos, district attorneys stated. Actual law-enforcement representatives inhabit a variety of those apartment or condos.
And district attorneys have actually stated Ali apparently informed witnesses in the event that he had connections to ISI, the Pakistani intelligence firm.
Four Secret Service representatives have actually been put on leave as an outcome of the case.
Taherzadeh’s attorney Michelle Peterson, in a filing Monday seeking his release on bail, stated, “The government’s speculative assertions and rhetorical flourishes aside, there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that Mr. Taherzadeh would be either a risk of obstruction of justice or a danger to the community if he were released.”
“The government has failed to demonstrate that this is a detainable offense in the first instance or, even it is, that there are no conditions of release that can be fashioned that would reasonably assure the safety of the community,” Peterson composed.
Law enforcement has actually gotten 2 videos of Taherzadeh shooting a pistol and attack rifle at a shooting variety thought to be in NorthernVirginia In one video, Taherzadeh seems using a long sleeve t-shirt with a USSS insignia on the arm. A
Source: U.S. Attorney|Washington D.C.
The examination of Ali and the 40- year-old Taherzadeh started last month when a U.S. postal inspector questioned them in connection with the attack of a mail provider at their Washington apartment, which they were thought to have actually seen.
The postal inspector had actually been informed that the males were DHS representatives and represented themselves as representatives to other locals.
In his preliminary interview on March 16, Ali informed the inspector, “I’m an investigator with the USSP Special Investigations Unit, part of DHS,” Ali’s attorney Smith composed in Monday’s court filing.
USSP is United States Special Police, a business owned byTaherzadeh It is neither a main police nor a part of the Department of Homeland Security.
In a March 21 follow-up interview, the inspector asked Ali if USSP becomes part of DHS. He reacted, “As I understand it. We do investigations for DHS.”
After the inspector informed him USSP was not part of DHS, Ali responded that “he had been speaking ‘to the best of my own knowledge.'”
Later that day, Ali was asked why he explained Taherzadeh as an unique representative for the DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations system.
“He is HSI,” Ali informed the postal inspector.
When the inspector informed Ali that Taherzadeh was not in a reality an HSI representative, Ali responded, “I understand him to be HSI. He is conducting large investigations in D.C.”
The lawyer Smith composed, “And why shouldn’t Mr. Ali have believed Taherzadeh?”
The attorney kept in mind that district attorneys have actually stated that “many experienced law enforcement agents … fell for this ruse.”
“If all of those experienced federal agents, with their years or even decades of experience, did not see through Taherzadeh’s claims, why is it fair to expect more from Mr. Ali, a high school graduate with no college degree and none of their formalized training?” Smith asked in the filing.
Prosecutors in a filing Sunday recommended more severe accusations versus Ali and Taherzadeh might emerge.
“Within the last day, the Government has confirmed more troubling facts: the ammunition magazines seized from Ali’s Glock 19 and Taherzadeh’s Sig Sauer were illegal, high-capacity magazines; and, after Taherzadeh was tipped off about the investigation, either he or Ali appears to have made further attempts to conceal evidence, including by trying to corruptly enlist the help of a federal law enforcement agent,” district attorneys composed.
That filing stated a previous U.S. Marine stepped forward in current days to inform private investigators that the duo attempted to hire him based upon their incorrect DHS qualifications. He likewise stated he had actually seen unlawful weapons in Taherzadeh and Ali’s existence, consisting of an AR-15/ M4 alternative automated rifle with an unlawful suppressor.
Neither of the males had a license to bring a gun beyond their houses, the filing stated.
Court filings reveal that Tishman Speyer, the property giant which owns the apartment building where the offenders preserved their 5 apartment or condos, in January won a default judgment for more than $222,000 in overdue lease for those 5 apartment or condos.
The default judgment protested United States Special Police, Taherzadeh’s business, which never ever paid any lease for the apartment or condos after renting them in late 2020, according to a suit.
