Tampa, FL - United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces the arrest and unsealing of a federal indictment charging Georges Jean-Philippe (48, Tampa), a/k/a Benedique Jean-Philippe, with making false statements in connection with his naturalization application. Special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested Jean-Philippe yesterday at his home in Tampa. United States Magistrate Judge Anthony Porcelli ordered him detained and held without bond.
According to the indictment, Jean-Philippe made false statements in his application for naturalization to become a United States citizen. During his application for citizenship, Jean-Philippe, a citizen of Haiti, falsely withheld information that he had previously been ordered deported from the United States under a different name and thus made false statements as to his ineligibility for naturalization. As a result of those falsehoods, he illegally obtained United States citizenship, in 2008, under a name different from the one he used in his initial dealings with U.S. immigration authorities in 2002.
This case was investigated by ICE HSI. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jay L. Hoffer.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
