WASHINGTON - Michael Mitry Hadeed, Jr., an attorney who practices law in Northern Virginia, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia in connection with an ongoing investigation of a large-scale immigration fraud scheme, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Washington Field Office, and Mark X. McGraw, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Washington Field Division, announced today.

The four-count Indictment returned this afternoon charged Michael Mitry Hadeed, Jr., 50, with conspiring to commit immigration fraud, committing immigration fraud, and making false statements to a number of federal agencies, including the Department of Labor, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security. The investigation was initiated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and worked jointly with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.

According to the indictment, beginning in 1999 and continuing through at least May 2005, the defendant filed fraudulent employment-based immigration documents on behalf of foreign nationals and aliens already in the United States seeking work authorization and permanent residency in the United States. The indictment details how the defendant used the King of Pita Bakery in Alexandria, Virginia, to sponsor foreign nationals and aliens for either no-show jobs or jobs for which they were employed but not qualified. To support these immigration documents, the indictment alleges that the defendants created documents making false claims about the aliens' work experience and offers of employment.

If convicted of the charges, Hadeed faces up to: five years on the conspiracy charge; eight years on the false statement charge; and ten years on the two immigration charges. He is scheduled to be arraigned on December 5, 2008, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The case has been assigned to the Honorable Leonie M. Brinkema.

In announcing today's indictment, U.S. Attorney Taylor, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Persichini, and ICE Special Agent in Charge McGraw praised FBI Special Agent Bryan C. Gaines, ICE Special Agent Raymond S. Orzel, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Asuncion, who is handling the prosecution.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless found guilty.