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Response by John E. Fuller to request OF THE
U.S. House of Representatives’ subcommittee oN immigration, border security and
claims for testimony AT THE OVERSIGHT HEARING ON "John Allen Muhammad and
THE Western Hemisphere passport exception." Together with three other persons
(Ralph Francis, Attorney, Cosmos Marcelle, retired Assistant Commissioner of
Police and the Reverend Arnold Francis, Catholic Priest) I was on the 28th day
of October 2002 requested by the Attorney General of Antigua and Barbuda to conduct
an investigation into the activities of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo
during their presence in Antigua and Barbuda.
On the 31st day of October 2002 we issued the attached Interim Report
and on the 31st day of December 2002 we issued the attached Final Report. Insofar as the findings in these
two latter reports relate to the subcommittee's oversight hearing the documents
speak for themselves. On the issue of Mohammad's document
fraud activities in Mohammad first arrived in He stayed with an Antiguan family
for a few weeks but was asked to leave as the family suspected that he had
"kidnapped" his children. Upon his departure from the latter
residence he seems to have inadvertently left in that house a few
"blank" birth certificates ostensibly from a state in the His second residence in Not withstanding the fact that
Mohammad seems to have barely literate, between April 2000 and March 2001 he
systematically engaged in the production and sale of
Mohammad often “shepherded” his
clients into the Statements from
witnesses supporting our findings are in our possession. The Government of Antigua and From our point of view what
Mohammad did was not so much as "exploiting a loophole" but utilize
the computers and the Web to obtain documents to create credible
forgeries. It must be remembered however
that at least one of his "clients" was refused Finally, in addition to the many
other avenues of investigation that we undertook and the various names and
individuals that we investigated, Mohammad not only took advantage of the
United States exception for the Western hemisphere but he also utilized forging
skills in obtaining for himself and three others four Antigua and Barbuda
passports .The other three passports were for Jamaican nationals. Mohammad's activities highlighted
the weaknesses in the systems in place in the As a footnote I think it incumbent
upon me to mention the potential repercussions to all tourist oriented
countries in the Western hemisphere who allow Dated John E. Fuller Phone: 268 462 0485 Fax: 268 462 4901 Email: fullaw@candw.ag Task Force Report To the Attorney General Pursuant to our mandate of This report is supplemental to
our Interim Report of Our first line of enquiry was the
passport office itself where we demanded that all applications for passports
made between the 1st day of April 2000 and Because of the sensitive nature
of the passport issue we decided first to look for forged documents used to
obtain passports. To do so and because
of the large number of applications made in the relevant period we obtained
clerical assistance from the Ministry of Legal Affairs and a team of police
officers to systematically examine each application. There were 8304 passport books involved.
Every one has been accounted for that was issued in As we already had the application
for John Allen Williams’ (hereinafter referred to as Muhammad) passport, the
method that he used was one line of investigation. This line of investigation produced three
more applications all of which proved to be fraudulent. They are: John Edwards, whose real name
turned out to be Norman Migill Manroe, a Jamaican national. Revena Ferris, whose real name is
Keshna Douglas, another Jamaican national. Rona Ascott, whose real name is
the same. She is actually a Jamaican
national but as in the other three cases the documents used to obtain the
passport were forged. We also screened all applications
by having several persons who were acquainted with Muhammad and the persons
with whom he associated (particularly of the Jamaican community) examine the
photographs of each applicant attached to each application. It was by this method that the application of
"Edwards" was discovered by Keithley Nedd. Additionally, and because each of
the four known fraudulent applications were obtained using a forged United
States birth certificate for the applicant, we examined the birth certificate
of each applicant in the relevant period. This method produced the application
of Rona Ascott. After exhaustive and careful
analysis using all of the above methods we are satisfied that during the
relevant period only the four stated passports were obtained by fraudulent
means. We are also satisfied that all
four were obtained by Muhammad, for himself and the others, for personal gain. During our examination of the
applications and after being assured by Lady Ena Thomas that the relevant
applications were securely sequestered in a room, to which we had the only key,
we discovered that one file of applications for some reason had not been
included in those sequestered. This gave
rise to concern about the assurances we had been given regarding the safe
quarantining of the relevant documents.
We took the said file into custody and secured it. This file contained the fraudulent application
for Revena Ferris which was discovered by passport office staff. This latter incident caused Mr.
Keithley Nedd who had been up to that time, fully cooperative, to withdraw his
assistance from the investigation. We believe that there are no
sinister reasons for the original exclusion of this file from those that we had
secured. However, we felt that it was a lapse of care again on the part of the
passport office staff. We believe that Nedd’s refusal thereafter to cooperate
was and is totally unreasonable and may have been motivated by ulterior
motives. We continued without him. We wrote him indicating that he had not
completed his perusal of all the relevant applications but to no avail. He has
not resumed his assistance in our investigation and has ignored all of our
entreaties so to do. He has however seen fit to make public statements on a
political platform about the investigation and us. In the course of this investigation we interviewed the
following persons; Keithley Nedd M Judith Peets Janet Harris Fitzroy Anthony George Simpson aka Shanga Netfa N Mrs. Gina Papadopolous Joel Paige Lynroy Fredrick Carla Foster Janet Greer and family Orella Jarvis Cassandra Anthony Thomas Renee Williams Wilbur Purcell Jennifer Isaac Constable Junior Mapp no. 491 Colonel Howard Kelly Muriel Allen Bennett Alvin Jones Cpl. Burke no. 219 Cpl. Lewis no. 408 Const. Patrick no. 108 Francine Graham Sgt. E. Jeffers no. 412 Alan Aflak Lady Ena Thomas Violet Josiah Alvin Langlais Kevin Perino Katherine Skipp Mark Fineman Libby Nicholson David Gonsalez J Y Ondell Contstant Basil Walters Collin Sullivan Sgt. Cabral no. 75 Cpl. Hampson no. 125 Several of the persons gave
statements on the condition that they remain anonymous. The names listed above
which are underlined are the ones whom we promised anonymity. Several refused
to give written statements and other statements were given over the telephone.
In respect of others it was simply impossible to get written statements. We are
in possession of all written statements given. However, many of the witnesses above
gave background information only and their evidence is not mentioned below. Keithley Nedd failed to
give a written statement but insofar as the passport issue is concerned he
admitted to us that he saw Muhammad with only one Antiguan and Barbudan
Passport. He did say he saw Muhammad “holding” five passports in his hand but
that he saw only the front of one of them and it was an Antiguan and Barbudan
passport. Nedd has a child with Keshna
Douglas’ half-sister. The child’s godfather is Senator Harold Lovell. Muhammad
lived in the house of Charles and Euphernia Douglas at Whilst it is clear that much of
what Nedd had to say was corroborated there is no doubt that he exaggerated
greatly and evaded all attempts to have him give a full and lucid statement and
to complete his perusal of the relevant passport applications. Regardless of
his motives, he does deserve some commendation for his original whistle
blowing. M a Jamaican National was also a frequent
visitor to the This witness also stated that
Muhammad suggested blowing up Barclays Bank and kidnapping the Prime Minister.
Most of what this witness told us was corroborated in one way or another. For
example, he told us about Rona Ascott but for some reason that information was
forgotten by us. Ascott’s name however was independently discovered by a
passport clerk who suspected the application to be false because of the
included He also informed us about
Muhammad’s visits to Libby Nicholson who later confirmed it. M also
corroborated independent information given by N concerning Norman Manroe’s and
Muhammad’s interest in counterfeit M told us that Manroe and Wylie
had met at the prison and that he, M, had accompanied Muhammad to the prison
where Muhammad visited a prisoner. He was not present for that meeting. Prison
officials confirmed that Manroe and Wylie were in prison at the same time. We
also discovered that Manroe was sent to prison in the name of Kenny Williams he
having also fraudulently obtained a passport in the name of Kenny Williams a
year before Muhammad ever came to Wylie also paid for the funeral
of Manroe’s infant who died aged 3 days, just before Manroe was released from
prison. The prisoner that Muhammad is alleged to have visited was Livingston
Morgan a convicted forger of Judith Peets’ name was
given as the certifier of Manroe’s first false passport for which he
successfully applied on Janet Harris is the
headmistress of the Greenville Primary School on Rose Street Ottos. Muhammad
sent his 3 children to that school and it is immediately adjacent to the
Douglas household on Rose Street. Muhammad used his wit and charm on Mrs.
Harris, in addition to his helpful attitude and healthy appearance, to obtain
Mrs. Harris’ certification on his passport application. She admitted certifying
that she knew him for 18 months when in fact she knew him for barely two
months. It is also alleged that she certified the application for John Edwards.
She denied it and the matter will shortly be sub judice. Again neither of these
applications was independently verified by the passport office. A warrant has
been issued for Mrs. Harris’ arrest. Lennox Gardner, the
director of the Social Security Scheme, confirmed that Muhammad obtained a
social security card in the name of John Allen Williams using the passport in
the name of John Allen Williams which he used as proof of his identity and
citizenship. Fitzroy Anthony, a senior
sergeant of police assisted in two ways. First, he was the officer who
investigated Muhammad’s escape from St. John’s Police Station on the 13th
March 2001 and who also attempted to locate Howard “Steve” Kelly; both eluded
him. His statement, a copy of which is attached, is self-explanatory. Second,
Sgt. Anthony is the investigator in Deon Wylie’s murder. He allowed us to read
his file. That murder is still unsolved. Gina Papadopolous, a witness at
the scene of the murder, stated that Norman Manroe was not the person seen
leaving the scene covered in blood. George Simpson, who has
since legally changed his name to Shanga Nefta was a known associate of
Muhammad and was often seen in his company. It is Simpson’s name which is shown
as the certifier of the passports obtained in the names of Revena Ferris and
Rona Ascott. He is a plumber. He denies signing as certifier or that the
signatures of “George Simpson” on both applications are his. Our handwriting
expert supports him. Needless to say, he was not contacted by the passport
office to verify any facts in those applications. It should be noted that the
passport office accepted a plumber’s certification without verification and on
the application “plumbing” was spelt “plumming” by the plumber. It should also
be noted that for all four applications which we attribute to Muhammad, Eva
Ferris is shown as the mother! Joel Paige of the Birth
Registry wrote up the birth certificate for Eva Ferris which was used in all
applications but understandably he cannot remember doing so or for whom. N was Deon Wylie’s
girlfriend. She knew Norman Manroe. Both Wylie and Manroe were drug traffickers
and dealers and both were interested in and did possess counterfeit US
currency. She stated that Manroe spent much of the 28th September
2000 with Wylie. Wylie was murdered on the 29th September 2000. She
notes that they met in prison and that Wylie paid for the funeral of Manroe’s
infant while Manroe was still in prison. She is still afraid and wishes to
remain anonymous. Mrs. Janet Greer at the
request of her cousin Randolph Simon (who lived in Tacoma, Washington State and
was a friend of Muhammad) allowed Muhammad and his three children to stay with
her when they arrived in Antigua on the 28th March 2000. All four
arrived on American Airlines flight 5502 on one “travel” document, namely the
Wyoming driving license no. 451891495 of Muhammad. There is no doubt that this
too was a forgery. His name was shown as Thomas Allen Lee. His children, whose
embarkation/ disembarkation (ED) cards were filled out by Muhammad, were
declared as Fred Allen Lee, Theresa Lee and Lisa Lee- all false names of
course. Muhammad introduced himself to Mrs. Greer as John Muhammad instead of
Lee and his children as John Jr., Thalibah and Selima. Before long Mrs. Greer
realized that Muhammad had kidnapped his children and asked him to leave in
spite of being shown a letter which Muhammad produced giving him “authority”
for Muhammad to travel with his children. Up to that point Mrs. Greer and her
whole family had been very kind and helpful to the Muhammads. It seems he went
thereafter directly to Charles and Eupersia Douglas’ house on Rose Street. Mrs.
Greer and family had no further contact with the Muhammads. Lynroy Frederick, a
security officer for The Public Works Department, states that in or about
October 2000 he saw Muhammad and another person twice at early hours of the
morning in the vicinity of the Prime Minister’s home at Soldiers Ghaut. He
stated that Muhammad asked him if that was the Prime Minister’s home. However,
Frederick also stated that he Frederick thought that Muhammad and the other
person were other security guards for the home but didn’t explain how he could
have thought that while at the same time Muhammad was asking if that was the
Prime Minister’s home. Wilbur Purcell of Special
Security Services stated that he knew Muhammad, who offered his services as a
consultant, but Purcell did not take up his offer. Purcell himself was very
cooperative but his staff was not, and on occasion displayed ignorance and were
extremely uncooperative. The Staff of American Airlines
were very cooperative. It was as a result of suspicions raised by Muhammad’s
behaviour on the 11th March 2001 that Muhammad was arrested and
taken into custody by Sgt. Cabral and Cpl. Hampson. Muhammad, calling himself
“Norman”, had for some time been purchasing tickets from American Airlines. He
sometimes would purchase as much as $10,000.00 EC worth of tickets at one time.
On one occasion he checked in for
a flight with a check-in clerk who happened to travel on the same flight. On
the flight she noticed that he was not on the aircraft. Upon her return she
checked the manifest and discovered that he indeed was on the flight-or in any
event his name was shown as being on the flight. She rightly concluded that he
had switched documents with someone whom she did not recognize. As a result the
alarm was raised and on the next occasion, the 11th March 2001, when
“Norman” attempted to check in, this time in the name of “Dwight Russell” she
called the police and Muhammad was captured only to escape on the 13th
as we already know. Howard “Steve” Kelly was
the other person at the airport on the 11th March 2001. He had paid
Muhammad $2500.00 US to provide false US travel documents in the name of Dwight
Russel. He was told to wait in the men’s room of Big Banana at the airport
until Muhammad had checked in and obtained a boarding pass which along with the
travel documents was to be given to Kelly in the men’s room. Muhammad was
caught. Kelly waited for hours and eventually left. On the 19th
December 2002 Kelly turned himself in and in exchange for immunity from
prosecution given by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Kelly gave a full
statement of his involvement. When Muhammad was arrested the police took
possession of a driving license in the name of Dwight Russel bearing a photograph
of Muhammad. The Police also took a US birth certificate from Muhammad in the
name of Dwight Russel together with a one-way ticket to Los Angeles in the name
of Dwight Russel and two suitcases with what later proved to be Kelly’s
personal effects. Colonel Clyde Walker his
deputy Alvin Jones and their staff fully cooperated. In fact when Norman
Manroe was arrested at V.C. Bird Airport in February 2000 for drug trafficking
in the name of Kenny Williams, Alvin Jones, who was present, told the arresting
officer that Williams’ right name was Manroe and that he was a Jamaican. This
information was not acted upon and Manroe was arrested, convicted and
imprisoned in the false name of Kenny Williams. Even at Court Jones informed
the prosecutor of his knowledge but the case went ahead in the name of Kenny
Williams an “Antiguan” citizen. Upon his release from prison instead of being
deported to Jamaica Manroe was released back into society as an Antiguan. Jones
prepared a full file on Manroe and was the first to suspect that Manroe had
fraudulently obtained an Antiguan and Barbudan passport completely
independently of Muhammad’s efforts. This file was given to the then Chief
Immigration Officer. We are not aware of any action taken. Notwithstanding the above, we
discovered that Manroe was deported from Puerto Rico back to Antigua in
December 2000. How he slipped through the cracks on his re-arrival here we do
not know. He had already obtained his second false passport in the name of John
Edwards in September 2000. We do suspect that he too had fake US travel
documents done by Muhammad. In any event he appears to have left Antigua for
Jamaica as John Edwards in June 2001 and next appeared in Massachusetts in
October 2001 when he was arrested on a drug charge and since then he has been
in custody. We have also discovered that on the 11th September 2001,
using forged US documents, he applied for a US passport in Massachusetts. He
has since been charged, indicted and arraigned for this and is awaiting trial
in custody in Massachusetts. Additionally we have discovered
that Muhammad, using the name of
Thomas Lee, applied in Antigua to the US Embassy in Barbados for a US passport
using more forged documents. The forgeries were quickly discovered but Muhammad
never followed up his application. Alan Aflak informed us
that he had a flurry of requests from members of the public for driving license
type photographs with red backgrounds. When he realized the use to which these
could be put he refused to do any more. Antiguan and Barbudan driving license
photographs have a white background. Cpl. Burke and Cpl. Lewis
were on duty at St. John's police station on the morning of the 13th March
2001. Muhammad was in their custody.
Cpl. Burke was noted in the diary as off duty for reasons of ill health at
11:39 AM and at 11:40 AM Cpl. Lewis notes that Muhammad “Whyte Russell”
"walked out" of the station! A
suspicious sequence of events and an obvious gross lack of security. J and his wife Y were
interviewed and their home was searched by warrant. Both their computers and laminating machine
were examined both for content and fingerprints. Nothing useful was found but there is
evidence to suggest that they assisted Muhammad in the preparation of forged US
driving licenses and birth certificates.
The evidence is however insufficient in our opinion to recommend that
they be charged. We have been unable to discover
much about Lee Boyd Malvo. He arrived in
Antigua on the 9th July 1999 aged 14 years. He went to live with his mother Una James,
another Jamaican national, at Cashew Hill.
Shortly afterward he was enrolled at the 7th Day Adventist School. Una
James met Muhammad through the Douglas’ and it seems certain that she too
obtained US travel documents from Muhammad.
She appears to have left Antigua in late 2000 or early 2001. She turned up in Fort Myers, Florida by May
2001 where she married a US citizen apparently for immigration purposes. Una James left her son alone in a
rented house in Bendals Road. He lived
there alone for about 3 months. He was
then 15 years old and became 16 years old on the 18th February 2001. No rent
was paid for the home for three months and the landlord disconnected all
utilities. Malvo took care of himself and went to school for those three
months. Finally, in an apparent fit of frustration, he trashed the inside of
the house and moved in with Muhammad on Rose Street. After Una James’ departure she
would send money for Malvo through Muhammad.
Not much came. From information
received Una James did not pay Muhammad for her forged documents and was
visited in Florida in mid 2001 by Muhammad who, it is suggested, held on to
Malvo as security for his payment. During our enquiries several
reports were made to us by members of the public but very few resulted in
useful information. For example, as a
result of information, the home of a Jamaican national one Francine Graham was
searched with a warrant by our investigating officers looking for an Antiguan
and Barbudan passport. None was found. When Muhammad escaped on the 13th
March 2001 he disappeared and obviously shortly thereafter left Antigua
probably under a false name. It is clear
however, that upon his return to the US he legally changed his name from John
Allen Williams to John Allen Muhammad in mid April 2001. On the 20th day of May
2001 he returned to Antigua this time as John Allen Muhammad using US driving
license MUHAMJA402RU as a travel document.
Muhammad stated in his ED card on
his arrival that he would be staying at Pineapple Beach. His children and Malvo had, in mid March
2001, been taken away from Rose Street by a taxi and were not seen again. In any event immigration records show that on
the 31st day of May 2001 Muhammad, his three children and another person whom
we believe to be Malvo, left Antigua for Puerto Rico on American Airlines
flight 5527. This time, except for
Malvo, they traveled as Muhammads. Malvo traveled as Lindbergh Williams who in
fact is Muhammad's first son. None of
them has ever returned to Antigua. While there is no doubt that
Muhammad is a Muslim we have found no evidence that any of his illegal
activities in Antigua and Barbuda were in any way connected to his concept of
Islam. Conclusions
Williams came to Antigua to hide
his children whom he had effectively kidnapped. He was without funds. His
choice of Antigua as a destination seems to have been totally random and based
solely on his acquaintance with Randolph Simon, Janet Greer’s cousin. He did
receive small remittances from the US via Western Union. The Western Union staff were unable to locate
records of these transfers. Williams needed
money to survive and he turned to forgery.
He found a fertile market in selling forged US travel documents,
probably over 20, which at $3000.00 US each earned him over $160,000.00 EC.
Most were sold to Jamaican nationals. The fraudulently obtained Antigua and
Barbuda passports were of little value in the market as possession of one did
little or nothing to assist anyone getting to the USA. We have no evidence that he sent anyone
anywhere else. We conclude that Muhammad
obtained an Antiguan and Barbudan passport for the sole purpose of assisting
his living in Antigua and Barbuda. As a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda he would
not require a work permit and he could easily obtain a Social Security card and
register with the Medical Benefits Scheme and other institutions. In addition, he seems to have
accompanied many of his "clients" to a US port of entry as a shepherd
and would return to Antigua laden with goods for sale for other
"clients". His outgoing
friendly nature and his attractive physical attributes all lent to his being
trusted and liked. He also seems to have had a good working knowledge of
psychology and used it to prey on anyone from whom he needed an advantage. As a result of carelessness on
the part of the passport office staff he obtained four passports and no
more. Coincidentally a friend of
Muhammad whom he met in Antigua, one Peter John Gianquinto, using similar
methods to Muhammad's, fraudulently obtained a US passport in New York. The passport staff must use more
care in perusing applications and must do spot checks with certifiers of
applications particularly in respect of applications which contain foreign
birth certificates. Many of the certificates produced to the passport office
contained different typefaces and in some cases the same word was spelt
differently on the same documents. Failure to notice these discrepancies can be
described as carelessness, negligence or at best lack of competence. We all feel that our records of
births, deaths and marriage should be available for inspection to all and even
for extraction by all but whenever an extract is made a permanent record should
be kept of the particulars of the applicant for the extract. We do not believe that a long
delay in obtaining a passport is necessary.
We have received numerous complaints about the length of time applicants
must wait for a passport and we believe there can be no justification for these
long delays. Although we have no brief
regarding applications for citizenship, our comments on the delays in obtaining
passports apply equally or more so to the extremely inordinate delays in
processing citizenship applications. The same staff deal with both types of
applications. There is a patent need for changes in the staff and system at the
passport/ citizenship office. We debated heatedly whether a
plumber ought to be acceptable as a certifier. We felt that to exclude
tradesmen and persons of similar trades as certifiers smacks of elitism but
when we look at similar requirements in other jurisdictions a professional
person is usually required. Until recently this was the case here but it was
changed by statutory instrument. Try as we did we were unable to
find any connection whatsoever between Muhammad and Richard Reid. We looked for
that connection because on Muhammad’s original arrival he wrote on his ED card
that he was going to stay with one Janet Reed of “Long Fords Estate.” There is
no connection. Janet’s last name is in fact Greer- formerly Kellman. We have found no evidence of any
terrorist activity in Antigua connected with Muhammad or otherwise. We also concluded that no event
or person in Antigua in any way triggered or contributed to the tragic events
allegedly connected with Muhammad and Malvo in the US. We have been surprised that other
than the allegations concerning Francine Graham, not a single complaint or
report has been made to any of us concerning the existence of a single
fraudulently obtained passport. Given the widespread notoriety concerning our
investigation and the loud and clamorous allegations from some quarters of the
issuing of great numbers of fraudulent passports it would have been reasonable
to have expected to be inundated with reports of such. We received one only and
it was baseless. We have been informed that prior to our appointment the
Honourable Baldwin Spencer was invited to personally peruse all passport
applications by Lady Ena Thomas. He has to date not taken up the offer. We conclude that the allegation
that there is a passport “scandal” are without foundation and are concocted, at
the very least in respect of the period we investigated. As an experiment using documents
available on the Internet we were amazed at how easy it was to create a forged
birth certificate. We created one and laminated it and we attach it to this
report. It would be just as easy to create a false driving license with
photograph. This can easily be done with the use of the Internet and someone
versed in the use of computers. John Muhammad was not so versed and we conclude
that he had local assistance from J in creating these documents. John Muhammad committed several
criminal offences in Antigua and Barbuda. Having regard to the charges he faces
in the courts of the USA it seems that it would be ludicrous to apply for his
extradition. There is no doubt that an extradition order would be made but it
would inevitably be postponed until he is tried and convicted and served his
sentences.
Finally we wish to thank all who
assisted us in this investigation and apologize to the passport office staff
for any inconvenience caused by us. We are particularly grateful to Inspector
Leroy Morgan, Senior Sergeant Clement Solomon and Constable Sean Wayne for
their help. John Fuller- Chairman _______________________________ Ralph A. Francis- Member _______________________________ Father Arnold Francis- Member _______________________________ Interim Report of Task Force
Investigation of John Allen Williams aka John Allen
Mohammed This is the Interim Report
requested by the Attorney General in her letter of the 28th day of October 2002
when she appointed the Task Force to investigate inter alia the circumstances
surrounding the application and issuance of an Antigua and Barbuda passport to
John Allen Williams. Because of the restriction
of time imposed upon us we have limited this Interim Report as stated above. We
have however already made extensive investigations regarding our other terms of
reference and we respectfully suggest that these matters be deferred for the
Final Report as premature disclosure of the material at our disposal may
jeopardize our ability to investigate thoroughly and may thwart any possible
criminal prosecution which may be required to be undertaken in the intervening
period. To date we
have interviewed several persons including Lady Ena Thomas Permanent Secretary
in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Violet Josiah passport clerk in the
said Ministry, Mrs. Janet Harris Principal of Greenville Primary School and
Mrs. Murial Bennet Lee Allen, former teacher at the said school. We have also
perused all necessary files and documents at the passport office and several
documents from the Immigration Department. We have also obtained other
documents which we believe originated from John Allen Williams and which give
rise to great concern regarding Williams’ activities in Antigua and Barbuda and
the report of which will be included in the Final Report. Regarding the Antigua and
Barbuda passport number 0118115 issued on the 4th July 2000 to Williams we have
determined that the following events and facts are certain: 1. Williams and
his three children arrived at V.C. Bird International Airport on the 28th of
March 2000. He possessed documentation describing himself as Thomas Alan Lee
with a Wyoming USA driving license no. 451891495. He filled in a disembarkation card for himself as above and for
his three children naming them Fred Allen
Lee, Teresa Lee and Lisa Lee. He stated that he was going to stay with
“Jeanette Reed of Long Fords Estate, phone number 463-6610.” It seems clear to
us that (a) he used false names for himself and his children (b) used a false
driving license and (c) falsely stated that he was going to stay with Jeanette
Reed. He well knew he was going to stay with Janet Greer at Golden Grove as he
had before his arrival spoken to her on the telephone. We have ascertained this
from Ms. Greer who actually picked him and his children up at the airport on
the 28th March 2000. Her phone number is 461-6110 and not 463-6110 as he stated
on his disembarkation card. 2. Williams and his family stayed at Ms. Greer’s home for
4 to 5 weeks after his arrival until she asked him to leave on account of
her suspicions that he had kidnapped his children in spite of the fact that
Williams showed her a document purporting to be signed by the children’s mother
giving Williams authority to leave the United States with the children. 3. Shortly afterwards he and his children moved into a
house on Rose Street, Ottos next to the Greenville Primary School owned by Mrs.
Janet Harris who was also the principal of the school. 4. In April 2000 he enrolled his children at the said
school using the surname Lee with Christian names different than those with
which they entered Antigua. 5. During April May and June 2000 he inveigled his way
into the good graces of principal Janet Hams at the school. 6. During the same period he spoke on one occasion to
Mrs. Muriel Allen, a teacher at the said school, to whom he suggested that they
were related by virtue of the mutual name of “Allen”. During the conversation
he asked her for her mother’s name and she told them it was Eva Ferris. 7. On the 19th June 2000 Williams applied for an Antigua
and Barbuda passport. In support of his application he presented a Louisiana
birth certificate purporting to be his and an Antigua and Barbuda birth
certificate of one Eva Ferris. We have been unable to ascertain how Williams
obtained Eva Ferris’ birth certificate. 8. On the 4th July 2000 a passport was issued in the name
of John Allen Williams which Williams apparently collected on the 18th July
2000. 9. Upon a perusal of the said Louisiana birth certificate
presented by Williams in support of this passport application, his mother’s
name is stated as Eva Feris aged 39. The certificate however plainly shows that
the informant of the birth of John Williams was the “parent” whose signature is
shown as “Mrs. Myrtie Williams” and not Eva Feris. This alone is a blatant
contradiction on the face of the document and should have been seen.
Additionally the mother’s age at the time of Williams’ birth is stated as 39 on
the 31st December 1960 resulting in the mother being born in 1921. The
accompanying birth certificate of Eva Ferris shows her year of birth in Antigua
as 1929. This also should have been a red flag to the staff at the passport
office. The spelling of Ferris differs on both documents, another reason to be
concerned about the application. Finally, the typeface used for “Eva Feris” and
“Antigua St. John’s” in Williams’ birth certificate are different in style to
the balance of typeface used in the other words typed in the certificate and
are off angle to the other lines typed on the certificate. 10. The identity of Williams was certified in paragraph 9
of the application by Mrs. Janet Harris described above. On the 19th June 2000
she certified that she knew Williams for 1 year and 6 months. She admitted to
the chairman that this was untrue and that she had known the Williams family
for 4 months only but that she wanted to help them as Williams had told her his
mother was Antiguan. Further he had been so helpful at school and seemed very
honest. 11. It seems clear to us that had Williams’ documentation
been examined carefully his application would have been rejected and his
documents may have been referred to the police and become the subject of
criminal prosecution for forgery and/or making a false statement under section
6 of the Forgery Act Cap 181. These charges are still possible. 12. We conclude that save for Williams’ deliberate
falsification of his passport application and his birth certificate and Mrs.
Harris’ false statement, there is no evidence of any criminal collusion with
anyone in the passport office. However, we have to conclude that there was
negligence in the issuing of the passport. Three persons in the office perused
his application and supporting documents namely, Ms. Jasmine Stewart counter
clerk, Ms. Violet Josiah passport clerk and Lady Ena Thomas Permanent
Secretary. We emphasize that the various discrepancies listed above should have
been observed. We learned that Ms. Jasmine Stewart left the Civil Service at
the end of July 2000. We have found nothing to suggest that she was involved in
any impropriety in connection with the issuing of Williams’ passport. 13. We also conclude that there is no evidence to link Williams
to Richard Reid. 14. We are satisfied that Williams in not a citizen of
Antigua and Barbuda. Recommendations in this
report are limited to the passport office and are as follows: The
passport office issues over 5000 passports annually. In fact on the 4th July
2000 over 60 passports were issued. The careful perusal and examination of
supporting documents is vital to ensure that forgeries and falsifications do
not succeed. We strongly recommend that the examination and vetting of
applications and supporting documents are done by staff who are trained to
detect forgeries and false documents. The final approval should be a formality
given with the solid and unshakeable knowledge that all is in order. Clearly
this is not the case now and urgent steps must be taken to ensure that our
recommendations are implemented. Finally
(and the following portion of the report ought to be kept confidential) we are
in possession of information which leads us to strongly suspect (a) that
Williams may have fraudulently obtained several more Antigua and Barbuda
passports and (b) that Williams engaged in an extensive conspiracy to forge and
provide forged U.S. travel documents for illegal immigrants to the United
States. Our investigation into this aspect is ongoing and may be the subject of
a second Interim Report. We may call upon the assistance of the Police to
obtain search warrants of and interviews with named individuals who may have
been accessories to the above activities. John Fuller- Chairman _______________________________ Ralph A. Francis- Member _______________________________ Father Arnold Francis- Member _______________________________ Cosmos Marcelle- Member _______________________________ John E. Fuller Curriculum Vitae Born 19 March 1946 Educated: Christ the King Primary School (Antigua) 1950- 1958 St. Joseph's Academy (Antigua) 1958-1962 St. Peter's College New Jersey, USA 1962- 1966 Inns of Court School of Law London, England 1967- 1972 Legal Officer of the Attorney General Antigua 1973- 1975 Private practice Antigua 1975- present John E. Fuller 39 Newgate Street PO Box 1168 St. John’s, Antigua West Indies 268 462 0485 268 462 4901 fax fullaw@candw.ag Share this page | Bookmark this page The leading immigration law publisher - over 50000 pages of free information!
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