The former priest, convicted of child abuse, who was stripped of his American citizenship, said he was sentenced to one year in prison on Thursday.
Antonio Veres Lopez, a 69-year-old Colombian resident, was handed over to prison for a passport fraud and was ordered to be deported after serving his time, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said.
“We thought that child molestations like Velez, to lie about their crimes and become citizens, could hide behind those who acquired what they stole,” said Scott Ludwig, field office director for Ice Enforcement and Removal Operations New Orleans Acting. “They thought Ice had to search thousands of records to find them. They were right. That's exactly what we did.”
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Antonio Veres Lopez, 69-year-old priest.
“ICE and our partners will relentlessly defend the integrity of our country's naturalization process,” Ladwig added.
On February 19, 2020, Veres was arrested in Maryland and charged with five counts of a third sexual offence and one count of a fourth sexual offence. He ordered him to plead guilty to sexual abuse of a minor who was temporarily liable and sentenced to nine years in prison on May 14, 2021, and to register as a lifetime sex offender.
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While serving as a child priest, he admitted to sexually abuse a child from June 2003 to June 2009.
Veles entered the United States in 2003 as a temporary religious worker. When he applied for permanent residence on May 15, 2007, he mistakenly stated that he “had never intentionally committed a moral, troublesome crime.”
He was granted permanent residence on November 6, 2007. When he applied for US citizenship, he again lied to his criminal history and US government officials.
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He was naturalized as a US citizen on May 29, 2013. Authorities said Velez lied again when he applied for his US passport in 2012.
On February 28th, he was stripped of his American citizenship and was ordered to be deported by a judge, Ice said.
