A former U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent has been sentenced to serve four and half years in prison today, after coercing a female applicant to perform sexual acts in exchange for her green card.
The former screening officer, Isaac Baichu, 59, of the Bronx. was convicted of demanding and receiving sexual favors from a female who was applying for U.S. Citizenship in December of 2007. Baichu lead the woman to believe that if she failed to comply, he would use his position within the DHS to deny her application, officials said.
His victim was a Colombian woman who had applied for a green card based on her marriage to an American citizen.
The woman eventually gave in to his demands and met Baichu on Queens Blvd where she got into his car -- she told officials that Baichu coerced her to perform oral sex on him in return for assisting her with her application.
“The defendant’s abuse of the power and authority of his position with the federal government is especially odious," said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. "By unjustly taking advantage of someone new to this country, he brought dishonor on his fellow agents and could have left his victim believing that all government employees were corrupt."
Last April, Baichu plead guilty to third-degree bribe receiving, second-degree receiving reward for official misconduct, second-degree coercion, sexual misconduct and official misconduct.
"Today’s sentence will hopefully go a long way in deterring others from preying upon those individuals wanting to become Americans and reassuring our immigrant community that that which occurred in this case will not be tolerated,” Brown said.
