A federal employee is charged with sexually abusing a detainee who was in ICE custody. Her alleged victim was just arrested for kidnapping in a separate case.
The detainee, who was being held in San Diego's Otay Mesa Detention Center, successfully petitioned for his release last fall before Fresno police arrested him in January
As I’ve covered before, a federal case manager was accused of abusing her power by having an ongoing sexual relationship with a detainee at San Diego’s Otay Mesa Detention Center.
San Diego resident Shantal Hernandez, who was 36 as of last August, faces up to 15 years in prison for sexual abuse of a ward.
The alleged victim is Iraqi national Ihab Kifah Nadhim, 25, who was being detained while awaiting deportation. The court granted Nadhim a supervised release last October, as the Hernandez case headed for trial with him as an important “material witness.”
But it didn’t last long.
Nadhim was arrested for kidnapping last month in Fresno, where he’s currently incarcerated.
Nadhim originally ended up in ICE custody because of multiple convictions against him in Fresno County, including first degree robbery and assault with a deadly weapon in 2017-18.
He received a deportation order in January 2023.
In June 2023, the allegations against Hernandez, along with details of her alleged sexual relationship with Nadhim, first surfaced in a series of search warrants.
One month later, Nadhim petitioned for supervised release on the grounds that the U.S. government could not keep him detained for more than six months after issuing the deportation order (the court documents I have are not quite clear, but he also seems to have served all the time he was supposed to serve from those initial convictions).
An excerpt from his petition for supervised release, filed July 24, 2023:
Nadhim, is terrified of Iraq and will prove his positive intents to be better civilian. He’s not a danger to the community as he has matured and sees the importance of family, he wants to be around for his children and Nadhim understand he will no longer have any additional opportunities to prove himself. He understands his road to prove himself is long but is willing to continue the right path.
Court records show he obtained his release by October 2023.
It’s unclear if Nadhim’s status as a victim/witness factored into his release, or how likely it is that he will still be deported — although the terms of his supervised release say that he has to assist the U.S. government in obtaining travel documents.
Also among the terms listed on his order of supervision: “That you do not commit any crimes while on this Order of Supervision.”
But on Jan. 4, 2024, Nadhim was arrested and charged with kidnapping, according to inmate records on the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office website.
Who was allegedly kidnapped? Why? A spokesperson from Fresno PD, which made the arrest and is handling the investigation, said she could only confirm that Nadhim was arrested for robbery, kidnapping, misdemeanor domestic violence, false imprisonment and parole violation.
“Due to the domestic violence confidential nature of the call, I will not be able to provide any further details,” Sgt. Diana Vega said in an email.
Nadhim has been in the U.S. since he was 3 or 4 years old, when his family arrived to the U.S. seeking asylum, he wrote in his petition for release. He has two kids who are U.S. citizens, parents and a wife in Fresno.
“All of Nadhim family has left Iraq and physical death will be a result to deportation,” he wrote in the petition.
There are repeated mentions of the dire consequences he fears if he were to be deported to Iraq.
“Aside to direct death for Nadhim this will cause automatic danger for Nadhim father, 2 kids and wife,” the petition continues. “If direct family even intent to visit or follow to rescue Nadhim everyone will be in danger for torture that will lead to death.”
Nadhim also attached articles by NPR and the New York Times about an Iraqi national from Michigan who died shortly after being deported. The story raised issues about deportees who, like Nadhim, have never really called a nation other than the U.S. their home, and face persecution after they’re forced to leave.
One result that the kidnapping charge has had so far on the Hernandez case?
Nadhim is incarcerated in Fresno County, so Hernandez’s attorneys successfully petitioned the court to remove location monitoring measures that had been imposed on her to make sure she had no contact with Nadhim.
Before that, Hernandez’s team unsuccessfully tried to argue that it was unconstitutional to track her location.
An excerpt from the judge’s ruling on the matter:
Ms. Hernandez’s pretrial release conditions shall be modified, removing GPS monitoring and a curfew previously ordered at the discretion of U.S. Pretial Services.
Another pretrial hearing is scheduled for Feb. 16.
[updated Feb. 13 at 9:41 a.m. with info from Fresno police]
So he goes to jail for beating up and almost killing his wife and he gets multiple blowjobs? Must be a very manipulative bastard.
Damn. He sounds like an evil fucker who seduced a prison guard to get preferential treatment.