BALTIMORE – Baltimore attorney Christos Vasiliades, 38, was arrested and charged with trying to intimidate the alleged rape victim in the case by telling her that testifying would make her vulnerable to deportation by the Trump administration, according to a grand jury indictment against him, The Washington Post reported.
Vasiliades offered the woman and her husband $3,000 in cash if their absence in court got the case “thrown out,” court documents show, then encouraged the couple to track down the defendant and “kick his ass.”
“If we were back home where I’m from, from Greece … we would go f‑‑‑ him up, that’s it,” Vasiliades allegedly said during a meeting with the couple that was secretly recorded.
Vasiliades added: “I think you should find him and kick his ass, personally.”
Vasiliades was arrested Tuesday afternoon in the hallway of the Courthouse East building, as the trial of his client, Mario Aguilar-Delosantos, was set to start, according to the sheriff’s office and court records, The Baltimore Sun writes.
In a recorded conversation, Christos Vasiliades, 38, and another man charged in the case, Edgar Ivan Rodriguez, told the alleged victim’s husband about the “current environment for immigrants in this country” and offered $3,000 cash if she did not show up to court, which would force prosecutors to drop the case, the indictment alleges.
Vasiliades returned to that courthouse Wednesday afternoon — wearing a yellow jumpsuit and hands cuffed behind his back. Prosecutors agreed to release him and Rodriguez under pre-trial supervision, Sun says.
Rodriguez, who identified himself as Vasiliades’ interpreter, also was charged with obstruction of justice and witness intimidation, according to court records.
The post Greek-American Lawyer for Accused Rapist Arrested for Threatening Victim with Deportation appeared first on The National Herald.