Former priest sentenced for passport fraud and stripped of US citizenship

A former priest with a child molestation conviction who was stripped of his American citizenship has been sentenced to a year in prison, authorities said Thursday. 

Antonio Velez-Lopez, a 69-year-old Colombian citizen, was handed jail time for passport fraud and ordered to be deported after serving his time, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said. 

“Child molesters like Velez who lied about their crimes to become citizens thought they could hide behind those who earned what they stole,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations New Orleans acting Field Office Director Scott Ladwig. “They thought ICE would have to search through thousands of records to find them. They were right. That’s exactly what we did.”

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“ICE and our partners will relentlessly defend the integrity of our nation’s naturalization process,” Ladwig added.

On Feb. 19, 2020, Velez was arrested in Maryland and charged with five counts of third-degree sex offense and one count of fourth-degree sex offense. He pleaded guilty on May 14, 2021, to sexual abuse of a minor for whom he had temporary responsibility and was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

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He admitted to sexually abusing a child from June 2003 through June 2009 while serving as the child’s priest.

Velez entered the United States in 2003 as a temporary religious worker. When he applied for permanent residency on May 15, 2007, he falsely stated that he had never “knowingly committed any crime of moral turpitude,” ICE said. 

He was granted permanent residency on Nov. 6, 2007. When he applied for U.S. citizenship, he again lied about his criminal history and about lying to U.S. government officials. 

He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen on May 29, 2013. Authorities said that Velez had lied again when he applied for a U.S. passport in 2012. 

On Feb. 28, he was stripped of his American citizenship and ordered by a judge to be deported, ICE said.