Weapons Smuggling Charges Filed Against Anna Fermanova
Anna Chapman was the Russian spy who captivated America, but possibly there’s a new spy from the Baltic States ready to take over. Latvian immigrant Anna Fermanova, 24, is stealing the hearts of Facebook fans with her good looks and stealing military hardware from the U.S. The New York Daily News writes that Fermanova allegedly sent a Raptor 4X Night Vision Weapons sight to Moscow illegally, supposedly for her spouse to use while hunting. Fermanova was arrested at her parents’ suburban Dallas home July 15, approximately a month after her most recent trip to Moscow to visit her husband. Resource for this article – Anna Fermanova – Not a Russian spy, but a munitions smuggler by Newystype.com.
It ‘looks a lot worse than it really is,’ claims Anna Fermanova’s attorney
“She’s a nice Jewish girl who lives with her sweet Latvian mother and father. There’s no terrorism link. There’s no espionage,” claims Scott Palmer, Anna Fermanova’s lawyer. The fact is that, a confidential informant dropped a dime on Fermanova with immigration, clueing them in to the alleged illegal smuggling procedure. Federal authorities who stopped Fermanova at Kennedy Airport before she boarded her flight for Moscow found a $ 7,000 Raptor 4X Night Vision Weapons Sight and two other sights worth $ 4,000 apiece.
Fermanova states she’d bought the scopes online for her “husband’s hunting buddies in Russia,” writes the Daily News. The agents asked her if she knew it was illegal to take such military grade hardware out of the country, and her response was that she had signed some form of paperwork but was unsure precisely what the paperwork stated. Apparently it did not constitute the license necessary for exportation.
She admits to blacking out the serial numbers
Fermanova said to officials that she’d obscured the serial numbers on the scopes intentionally. She simply said she did that so the numbers would be “less noticeable,” but agents became suspicious. The scopes were confiscated and Anna Fermanova was allowed to fly to Moscow, but her passport was seized and she was arrested upon her return to the United States. She was charged with “knowingly and intentionally attempting to export defense articles on the United States Munitions list”. Fermanova will serve 10 years for the offense if convicted, reports the Daily News. Fermanova is presently under house arrest after posting $ 50,000 bail.
Previously in trouble for check forgery
Seven years ago, Anna Fermanova was placed under arrest for a $ 76 check forgery. The one-time cosmetology student and English language instructor was fined for the offense and served three years of probation. During her time in beauty school, Fermanova took numerous provocative photographs of herself that made her Facebook page a popular attraction. This attention is not dissimilar to the ogling Anna Chapman received over her own sexy photographs.
nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/07/28/2010-07-28_nice_jewish_girl_anna_fermanova_busted_for_trying_to_smuggle_nightvision_scopes_.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvia