| February 10, 2006 Bureau of Diplomatic Security U.S. Department of State Washington, DC IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 10, 2006 On January 20, 2006, a federal judge from the Eastern District of Texas in Sherman, TX, sentenced Colombian citizen Harry Maxwell Taylor Varela to 41 months in jail for passport fraud and aggravated re-entry after deportation. Upon completion of his sentence, Taylor will be remanded to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement custody for deportation proceedings. In May 2005, the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service arrested Taylor for passport fraud. Taylor had submitted a passport application in the name of Jose Luis Maldonado and claimed he was born in Puerto Rico. Diplomatic Security’s Houston Office ran fingerprint records which revealed the applicant’s true name was Harry Taylor, born in Colombia, and had been convicted previously in the United States of murder in 1989, sentenced to 10 years in jail, paroled after four years, and deported. The Bureau of Diplomatic Security is the worldwide law enforcement and security arm of the U.S. Department of State with special agents assigned to U.S. diplomatic missions overseas and field offices throughout the United States. Diplomatic Security special agents conduct passport and visa fraud investigations worldwide and are responsible for security at 285 U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world. Contact:
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