A 33-year old Ghanaian federal immigration official, Samuel Nyanteng has been arrested in the US for submitting fraudulent documents and making false statements in order to illegally bring another person into the United States from Ghana.
Nyanteng, was taken into custody at about 6 a.m. when detectives executed a search warrant at his Leslie Street home, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Nyanteng has been charged with perjury, false swearing and conspiracy. Bail has been set at $30,000 with a 10 percent option, and he is expected to make his first court appearance later this week.
The arrest was made by detectives with the prosecutor’s office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A naturalized American who was born in Ghana, Nyanteng has been working for the last three years in the Newark office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency within the Homeland Security department, prosecutors said.
As an “immigration services assistant,” Nyanteng performed administrative support duties, said USCIS spokeswoman Anita Moore. He has been placed on administrative leave, Moore said.
At the time of his arrest, Nyanteng was in line for a promotion, prosecutors said. Before working for Homeland Security, Nyanteng worked for the U.S. Department of Defense, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors allege that Nyanteng submitted fraudulent documents and knowingly made false statements to immigration authorities in order to bring another person into the United States from Ghana. Authorities did not identify the other person.
No one answered calls made today to Nyanteng’s residence.
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Credit: NJ.com