Two more charged in ICE impersonations at Temple University
The new arrests in the Temple University incident of a student and former student come amid alleged ICE impersonations in two other states
Authorities have charged the two other men believed to have posed as ICE agents while disrupting a business on the Temple University campus this month.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office said Friday that it had approved charges against Alexander Javaheri, 19, and Mory Fall, 20. Warrants have been issued for their arrests.
Javaheri is a Temple student, now placed on interim suspension, and Fall is a former student.
Both have been charged with impersonating a public servant, conspiracy, defiant trespass, and harassment, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The new arrests come amid alleged ICE impersonations in two other states.
In the Temple incident, Philadelphia police earlier arrested Temple student Aidan Steigelmann, 22, of the 1400 block of North Fifth Street, who was charged with conspiracy to impersonate a public servant.
Shortly before 10 p.m. on Feb. 1, authorities said, the three entered Insomnia Cookies on the 1300 block of Cecil B. Moore Avenue. Two of the men wore shirts with “ICE” and “Police” in white lettering, while a third videotaped the disturbance, authorities said.
Temple officials said the trio disrupted the store but they did not provide specific details of what they allegedly said or did.
Police described an evolution of two incidents, starting at 9:35 p.m., when Temple University Police responded to the Johnson & Hardwick Residence Hall for a report of suspicious males identifying themselves as ICE agents and police officers.
Two suspects identified themselves in that way to security at the residence hall, police said. They were denied admission. Steigelmann then arrived at the hall, spoke with the two, and all three left together in a Jaguar SUV before police arrived.
Steigelmann also has been placed on interim suspension, according to Temple University.
The incident occurred as reports of ICE activity have increased in the region, driving anxiety in migrant communities, and only days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided a North Philadelphia car wash and arrested seven men.
In Chester County, a car and driver presented as a member of the “ICE Volunteer Corps” — there’s no such thing — stirred concern. The driver had fraudulent ICE stickers on the side and back of a white Jeep that was seen in West Chester and Kennett Square, the latter home to thousands of undocumented people who work in the region’s agricultural industry.
The Hill reported that in South Carolina, a man was jailed for felony kidnapping, impersonating a law-enforcement officer, and related offenses. Sean Michael-Emmrich Johnson turned himself in to police after a viral video showed him berating a Hispanic person while shouting, “You’re going back to Mexico.”
In North Carolina, the Hill and other news agencies reported, a man identified as Carl Thomas Bennett Jr. was arrested for sexually assaulting a woman at a Raleigh motel, showing a fake business card that pictured a badge and threatening to deport her if she did not comply.
Inquirer staff writer Susan Snyder contributed to this story.