Report says US sniper suspect made living selling falsified documents in Antigua
ST JOHN’S, Antigua (AP) — US sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad made his living in Antigua selling falsified documents to immigrants trying to reach the United States, according to a government report released yesterday.
Muhammad sold at least 20 falsified documents — from US birth certificates to driver’s licenses — earning him US$60,000 (Eastern Caribbean $160,000), according to the report by a government-appointed task force.
“He found a fertile market in selling forged US travel documents,” said John Fuller, chairman of a task force charged with investigating Muhammad’s activities in Antigua and Barbuda.
Muhammad allegedly sold most of the falsified documents to Jamaican citizens. Fuller said authorities suspect one of his clients was Una James, the mother of 17-year-old co-defendant Lee Boyd Malvo of Jamaica.
James was recently deported back to Jamaica from the United States.
US authorities say they have linked Muhammad, a 41-year-old US Army veteran, and Malvo to 19 shootings, including 13 deaths, in Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Washington.
Malvo’s attorney has said his client will plead innocent. Muhammad’s defense lawyer has said his client has the right to a fair trial.
Muhammad and Malvo were arrested at a rest stop in Maryland on October 24. Both Muhammad and Malvo are charged with capital murder. The two are believed to have met in Antigua.
Authorities believe Muhammad “held onto Malvo as security” because Malvo’s mother didn’t pay Muhammad for her falsified US documents, the task force said in the report.
The 12-page report was initially scheduled for release on December 30 but the appearance of new evidence delayed it until Monday, officials said.
The four-member task force, appointed in late October, has been investigating Muhammad’s activities while he lived in the Caribbean country between 2000 and 2001.
The names of four witnesses were blacked out. Fuller said they wanted to remain anonymous.
Muhammad allegedly purchased large numbers of airline tickets at once for those to which he sold documents and sometimes accompanied clients on trips to the United States.
The task force also was investigating how Muhammad fraudulently obtained an Antiguan passport by falsifying his US birth certificate and that of an Antiguan woman, Eva Ferris, who he falsely claimed was his mother.
Muhammad used the passport so that he wouldn’t need an Antiguan work permit, Fuller said.
He illegally obtained four Antiguan passports in all, but Fuller said they “were of little value in the market, as possession of one did little or nothing to assist anyone getting to the USA.”
Nevertheless, Fuller said Muhammad obtained those passports “as a result of carelessness on the part of the passport office staff.”
Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Janet Harris, a private school principal in Antigua who allegedly lied to certify Muhammad’s passport application, Fuller said.
The task force previously revealed that Muhammad allegedly spoke of planning to kidnap Prime Minister Lester Bird and use explosives to rob a bank. There have been no public reports he ever acted on those alleged comments.