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Top ICE lawyer in Seattle charged with stealing immigrants' identities
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lawyer in Seattle has been charged with stealing immigrants' identities, the Washington Post reported. The lawyer stole the identities of seven immigrants in order to defraud credit card companies. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds /AFP/Getty Images)

Top ICE lawyer in Seattle charged with stealing immigrants' identities

Officials charged a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lawyer in Seattle with stealing immigrants' identities, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Chief counsel Raphael A. Sanchez was charged with one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of wire fraud, according to the charging document filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Sanchez resigned Monday.

What's the story?

Prosecutors accused Sanchez of stealing the identities of seven immigrants who were "in various stages of immigration proceedings" to defraud credit card companies, including American Express, Citibank, and Bank of America.

The document, called an information, has few details, but the alleged offenses date back to October 2013.

One example listed in the document stated that Sanchez sent an email from his government account to his personal Yahoo account on April 18, 2016.

The email contained a Puget Sound Energy bill addressed to R.H., along with the image of a Chinese national's U.S. permanent resident card and the biographical page of a passport.

What else?

An information usually means the defendant has waived an indictment by a grand jury and intends to work on a plea agreement.

Sanchez is scheduled to enter a plea in court on Thursday.

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