A convicted sex offender has been indicted for lying about his past on his naturalization application, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Anibal Rios Lavias, 30, a U.S. citizen born in Mexico, was charged with naturalization fraud in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury.
Lavias pleaded guilty to five counts of statutory sexual offense with a child by an adult on March 19, 2024, in the Superior Court of North Carolina in Alamance County.
He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of between 300 and 420 months and ordered to register as a sex offender. The victim was five years old when the abuse began.
Lavias took the oath of citizenship and naturalized on May 4, 2018, despite lying about his past on his naturalization application.
The indictment alleges that Lavias knowingly and materially false statements under oath and penalty of perjury during a naturalization interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS).
He was not arrested until after he naturalized, so immigration officials were unaware of his crimes prior to granting citizenship.
Officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division assigned to the Document Benefit Fraud Task Force are investigating the case as part of Operation False Haven, an ongoing initiative designed to aggressively target egregious felons who fraudulently obtain U.S. citizenship.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lori Warlick is prosecuting the case.
Lavias is charged with naturalization fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison as well as the automatic revocation of his U.S. citizenship.
An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Related Federal Cases
- Clarence Brown Jr., Child Porn Relapse, North Carolina, 2023 · Connecticut
- Jordan Lee Adams, Child Pornography Production, North Carolina · Virginia
- Clarence Robert Brown Jr, Child Pornography Possession, North Carolina 2023 · North Carolina
- Charles Gary Humphrey, Child Pornography Trafficking, North Carolina 2023 · North Carolina
- Paul Delavan Knoke, Child Pornography Distribution, North Carolina 2023 · Michigan
Key Facts
- State: North Carolina
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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