Signature forger faces deportation
Campaign scandal - Vladimir Golovan's felony conviction could send him to Ukraine
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
ANNA GRIFFIN
The Oregonian Staff

If the federal government gets its way, Vladimir Golovan will leave the country soon after leaving jail.

Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have placed a "detainee hold" on Golovan, convicted this summer of 10 felonies in the 2006 Portland campaign finance scandal.

Once Golovan finishes his nine-month jail sentence, he'll be transferred to federal custody. Then he'll go before a federal immigration judge, who will decide whether the Ukrainian immigrant stays in the United States or is deported.
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"This essentially means they cannot release him back into the general population," said Lorie Dankers, an ICE spokeswoman. "The judge will look at all the facts, but the law is the law."

Golovan, convicted of forging signatures and stealing identities in his quest to help a City Council candidate qualify for $150,000 in public money, immigrated nine years ago seeking political and religious freedom. He lives in outer Southeast Portland with his wife and infant son and, as he showed when he brought several dozen friends and fellow immigrants along to his sentencing, has deep roots in Portland's Ukrainian and Russian community.

But federal law says a judge can kick people out of the country who have Golovan's immigration status -- he's a legal permanent resident -- if they are convicted of this type of felony.

At his sentencing last month, Golovan warned Circuit Judge Michael McShane that if he received jail time, he would face deportation. "My life will be ruined if I go to jail," he said. "I will not be allowed to stay here."

McShane sentenced Golovan to nine months, though his defense lawyer predicted that he would serve only a fraction of that because he has no prior record and because of jail crowding.

Golovan is being held at the Multnomah County Detention Center, rather than the lower-security Inverness Jail, because he suffers from sleep apnea and requires special monitoring, said his criminal defense lawyer, David Hall. Golovan has hired an immigration lawyer and plans to fight deportation, Hall said.

Under Portland's public campaign financing system, candidates who agree to limit their spending can receive up to $145,000 in public money if they collect signatures and $5 contributions from 1,000 people. During his trial, Golovan acknowledged forging signatures for candidate Lucinda Tate, who turned in the necessary signatures but was disqualified on a technicality.

Anna Griffin: 503-412-7053; annagriffin@news.oregonian.com

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