Passport fraud case plea May 1

CHARLES “CHUCKIE” EMMANUEL, the son of jailed former Liberian President Charles Taylor, was back in court yesterday — Good Friday — in the United States.

But he was no Good Friday bobolee, as he delayed entering a plea on a charge of knowingly making a false statement to obtain a United States passport in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.

Unlike Trinidad and Tobago and the rest of the Caribbean, courts are functional in the United States on Good Friday. It is a normal working day for the legal system and the man who had been hiding out in Trinidad since 2003 was ordered to appear in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

He was back in court on a passport fraud charge, but delayed entering a plea. US Magistrate Judge Andrea Simonton set a May 1 plea hearing for Emmanuel who was arrested on March 30 at the Miami International Airport after arriving on American Airlines flight 1668 from Trinidad.

Prosecutors say that Emmanuel, also known as Charles Taylor Jr, lied about the identity of his father on his application for a passport.

Emmanuel is being held at the Miami Federal Detention Centre without bail. His court appointed lawyers Miguel Caridad, said there are no indications that his client could be charged in connection with his role as head of Liberia’s anti-terrorist unit during his father’s presidency.

“It’s a simple making a false statement on a passport charge,” Caridad added.

Emmanuel is a United States citizen who was born in Suffolk County, Boston, Massachusetts on February 12, 1977. His birth certificate showed his mother is Beatrice Yolanda Emmanuel, a Trinidadian who is a former girlfriend of Charles Taylor. But his father was unnamed.

In “Chuckie’s” application dated March 15, 2006, he identified his father as Steven Daniel Smith, date of birth April 6, 1952, and listed Smith’s place of birth as St Vincent. “Chuckie” failed to identify Charles Taylor or stepfather Roy Belfast as his father on that application.

On March 30, 2006, a special agent interviewed Armando Armandariz, Consul General, US Embassy in Port-of-Spain. The Consul General stated that “Chuckie’s” false statements were not known to his office. He said had the nature of “Chuckie’s” family account been known, a consular officer would not have approved his application for a passport, a passport would not have been immediately issued, and further investigation would have been conducted.

Travel records revealed that on July 31, 2003, “Chuckie” travelled on Liberian passport No 002858 from Paris, France to Trinidad through Dulles International Airport in Loudoun County, Virginia. He arrived on Air France, flight No. 028 and departed for Trinidad on a BWIA flight.

On March 30, 2006, “Chuckie” boarded American Airlines flight 1668 from Trinidad and landed in Florida where he was arrested.