A West Virginia man is no longer facing jail time after being accused of extorting a woman from Annandale over her citizenship status.
The Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office decided last Wednesday (June 11) not to prosecute the 51-year-old man, according to court records, though no reason was explicitly provided.
The man, who resides approximately an hour’s drive away from Annandale, began harassing the woman in February after she ended a three-month “semi-romantic relationship” between the two, a criminal complaint said.
“In text messages, the accused states he will contact immigration and have her deported based on comments she made about the current president,” the complaint says. “He threatens [the victim] with deportation numerous times and states he was able to rescind the order to have her picked up.”
The man demanded that the victim pay him $100 from each pay period, in addition to giving “herself to him every Sunday” in order to prevent him from reporting her to law enforcement, according to court documents.
However, the woman approached law enforcement four days after the alleged demands were made — potentially before the man received anything that he sought.
The man was arrested in March and charged with one count of extortion, a felony that would have carried a penalty between one and 10 years in prison if he had been convicted.
While it’s unclear why the prosecution was dropped, the case likely would’ve required the victim to testify in court, presenting risks for somebody residing in the U.S. illegally.
Earlier this year, Trump administration officials rolled back a policy that restricted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) action in “protected areas,” such as courtrooms, schools and places of worship.
Since then, ICE is allowing its agents to “conduct civil immigration enforcement actions in or near courthouses when they have credible information,” according to guidance issued in January. A court injunction has been blocking ICE from raiding places of worship since March.
A Legal Aid Justice Center organizer recently told FFXnow that the nonprofit has seen an increase in ICE’s presence at local immigration courts and its field office in Chantilly. Agents reportedly detained people who were attending hearings at the Annandale court on June 10 and in Sterling on June 11.
