A former FBI translator is expected to be sentenced in federal court today after he pleaded guilty to making false statements in a case involving a terrorism suspect.
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com
A translator working for the FBI has been arrested on charges that he lied to investigators about having contact with a suspect in a terrorism investigation.
Abdirizak Jaji Raghe Wehelie, 66, of Burke, Virginia, was arrested Saturday and charged with obstructing an investigation and making false statements to the FBI, the Justice Department wrote in a news release.
The Justice Department has accused Wehelie of having a personal relationship with a terrorism suspect, who had left a voicemail on Wehelie’s phone. When Wehelie translated the call, he failed to disclose the connection or reveal that it was his phone that the suspect had called.
The terrorism suspect’s phone was under court-ordered surveillance.
According to federal prosecutors, Wehelie later disclosed that he had been friends with the suspect for years.
Wehelie faces up to 25 years in prison.
