A criminal investigation has been launched after a shocking arrest in Ramsey County, Minnesota Worship Ritao, an American citizen who attracted national attention. The case surfaced after a viral image showed him being escorted out of his home wearing Crocs, shorts and a plaid blanket in freezing weather.
Officials are currently investigating the incident with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers as a potential case of kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment.
ChongLy Scott Thao is a U.S. citizen living in the Twin Cities area of St. Paul, Minnesota. He has no criminal record. He did not recognize the person immigration authorities were looking for and told police Associated Press These people never lived with him. Thao was an unknown private citizen before the January incident, which attracted national attention after a photo of him being led out of his home, scantily clad in cold weather.
On January 18, immigration officials came to ChongLy Thao’s home in Sao Paulo. Ramsey County Prosecutor John Choi said Thao was taken from his home in freezing weather with scant clothing and kept in a car away from his home for more than an hour while agents questioned him.
Later, the agents realized they had the wrong man. Thao is a U.S. citizen with no criminal record and no connection to the person they are looking for. He told The Associated Press that he was taken home a few hours later.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said its officers were searching for two convicted sex offenders at the home and were acting on arrest warrants. But Thao told The Associated Press that he did not know the men and said they had never lived with him. The Minnesota Department of Corrections also confirmed that one of the men involved in the search was still in jail at the time of the raid.
Ramsey County officials said Monday there was “no indication” agents had a warrant to enter the home or make an arrest.
Choi added that authorities were investigating “felonious conduct by federal law enforcement officials” related to those detained during Operation Metro Surge, saying, “(We) are investigating all allegations brought forward as a team,” while noting, “but we need more facts.”
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Later, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement CNN “ICE does not ‘kidnap’ people.”
The statement also said the survey was “nothing more than a political stunt to demonize ICE law enforcement officers, who face a 1,300 percent increase in attacks for their most serious arrests.”
The Department of Homeland Security said Tao refused to “take fingerprints or facial recognition information” during the operation and that “for the safety of the public and law enforcement, it is standard protocol to confine all personnel inside the mobile home.”
However, the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to the county’s request for evidence.
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