20May10
Indictment filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in the case
United States of America v. Gilberto Jordan
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDACASE NO. 10-80069-CR-Zlock/Rosenbaum
18 U.S.C. § 1425UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
GILBERTO JORDAN,
DefendantINDICTMENT The Grand Jury charges:
GENERAL ALLEGATIONS 1. In or around 1982, the Guatemalan military maintained an elite special forces unit known as the "Kaibiles," who were trained at a facility located in La Polvora, El Peten, Guatemala, known as "the Kaibil School."
2. In or around November 1982, the Guatemalan guerrilla group known as "Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias" ambushed a Guatemalan military convoy near Las Cruces, Guatemala, killing soldiers and taking their rifles. In response, the Guatemalan military ordered a special patrol of approximately twenty Kaibiles from the Kaibil School to find the suspected guerrillas and recover the stolen weapons. The special patrol deployed to a small village near Las Cruces named Dos Erres. Defendant GILBERTO JORDAN was part of this special patrol.
3. On or about December 7, 1982, the special patrol entered Dos Erres with the support of approximately forty additional Kaibiles, who created a security perimeter around the village so that no one could enter or escape. The members of the special patrol searched all the houses for the missing weapons, forced the villagers from their homes, and separated the women and children from the men. Members of the special patrol interrogated villagers about the guerrillas and the stolen rifles.
4. Following the interrogation, the special patrol proceeded to systematically murder the civilian men, women, and children at Dos Erres by, among other methods, hitting them in the head with a sledgehammer and throwing them into a well. Members of the special patrol also forcibly raped many of the women and girls at Dos Erres before killing them. Defendant GILBERTO JORDAN participated in the crimes committed at Dos Erres, including murder.
5. Pursuant to the Guatemalan Penal Code that was in effect in 1982, a person "commits murder if they kill a person: with treachery,... with premeditation, with cruelty, [or] with the impulse of perverse brutality." Under Guatemalan law, it is no defense to criminal prosecution that a person was operating under military orders, if the orders "were manifestly illegal."
6. On or about September 10, 1996, in Palm Beach County, in the Southern District of Florida, the defendant, GILBERTO JORDAN, applied to naturalize as a United States citizen. Specifically, defendant GILBERTO JORDAN submitted an Application for Naturalization (Form N-400) to the Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service which application defendant GILBERTO JORDAN affirmed under penalty of perjury was true and correct.
7. On or about July 19, 1999, in Palm Beach County, in the Southern District of Florida, the defendant, GILBERTO JORDAN, appeared before a naturalization examiner for an interview based on his Form N-400 Application, at which time he was placed under oath and affirmed under penalty of perjury that the statements he had earlier provided on the N-400 form were true and correct. On August 25,1999, the defendant, GILBERTO JORDAN, was sworn in as a United States citizen in Miami Beach, Florida.
COUNT 1 8. Paragraphs 1 through 7 of the General Allegations portion of this Indictment are incorporated herein by this reference.
9. From on or about September 10, 1996 through on or about August 25, 1999, in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties, in the Southern District of Florida, and elsewhere, the defendant,
GILBERTO JORDAN, knowingly procured and obtained for himself naturalization as a United States citizen, which was contrary to law and to which he was not entitled for each of the following reasons:
(a) The defendant was not a person of good moral character, as required by Title 8, United States Code, Section 1427, and as defined by Title 8, United States Code, Section 1101(f), in that, he had in his Application for Naturalization interview on July 19, 1999, given false testimony in order to obtain benefits under the Immigration and Naturalization Act, as follows:
(i) The defendant stated that he had never "knowingly committed any crime" for which he had not been arrested, when in truth and in fact, and as the defendant then and there knew, he had committed crimes, including murder, for which he had not been arrested.
(ii) The defendant denied prior military service, when in truth and in fact, and as the defendant then and there knew, he was formerly a soldier in the Guatemalan army and a member of the Kaibiles.
(b) The defendant was not a person of good moral character, as required by Title 8, United States Code, Section 1427, in that on or about December 7, 1982, he had participated in the massacre at the village of Dos Erres, Guatemala, by murdering and assisting in the murder of unarmed men, women, and children.
(c) The defendant procured his naturalization as a United States citizen by concealment of a material fact and willful misrepresentation, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1001(a), 1015(a), and 1546(a), in that on his written Application for Naturalization submitted on or about September 10, 1996, and during his naturalization interview with an Immigration officer on or about July 19, 1999, the defendant willfully misrepresented his past military service and past criminal activity, by concealing the facts that he had served in the Guatemalan military and had participated in the massacre at the village of Dos Erres, Guatemala.
All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1425(a) and (b).
Notification of Intent to Revoke Citizenship Notice is hereby given that upon conviction under Count 1 above, the Defendant's August 25, 1999 naturalization shall, by Court order, be revoked, set aside, and declared void, and the Defendant's certificate of naturalization shall, by the same order, be canceled, pursuant to Title 8, United States Code, Section 1451(e).
A TRUE BILL
[XXX]
FOREPERSONWILFREDO A. FERRER
UNITED STATES ATTORNEYA. MARIA VILLAFAŅA
ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEYHILLARY DAVIDSON
SENIOR TRIAL ATTORNEY
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
