Thread: O.C. pharmacist convicted of funding terror removed from U.S.

O.C. pharmacist convicted of funding terror removed from U.S.

Feb. 12, 2016
Updated 2:15 p.m.

Oytun Ayse Mihalik, 43, formerly of La Palma, pictured center, was turned over to Turkish authorities Friday following her 2011 arrest for wiring money to Pakistan to fund terror attacks.COURTESY OF U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT


By ALMA FAUSTO / STAFF WRITER


U.S. Immigration officials turned over to Turkish authorities Friday a former pharmacist who worked in Orange County and had wired money to Pakistan meant to support terrorists in 2010 and 2011.

Oytun Ayse Mihalik, 43, formerly of La Palma, was sent back on a commercial flight escorted by immigration enforcement officers, ICE officials said in a Friday statement. Mihalik is a Turkey native.
After arriving at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, officers transferred Mihalik to the custody of Turkish law enforcement.

She pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorists and was sentenced to five years in federal prison in March 2013. In her guilty plea, Mihalik admitted she sent money to someone in Pakistan intending that the money be used to prepare for and carry out attacks against U.S. military personnel and others overseas, immigration officials said.

Using the alias Cindy Palmer, Mihalik sent $2,050 in three wire transfers to someone in Pakistan in late 2010 and early 2011. She was arrested on Aug. 27, 2011, as she prepared to board a flight to Turkey with a one-way ticket and has been in custody since.

As part of her plea, Mihalik agreed to forfeit her lawful permanent resident status and be removed to Turkey after serving her prison sentence. Department of Homeland Security databases show Mihalik arrived in the U.S. in July 2006 on a work visa and became a lawful permanent resident in January 2011.

She had fulfilled her prison term, spending at least some of her sentence in Dublin, Ca. Then she was released to immigration officials, who in essence kicked her out of the country.

“Becoming a lawful permanent resident of the United States is a privilege,” Adrian Macias, director for Enforcement and Removal Operations in San Francisco, said in the statement. “ICE will move aggressively against those engaged in actions that seek to harm those responsible for safeguarding the very freedoms that privilege affords.”

Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/m...migration.html

ICE removes former Orange County woman convicted of terrorism charge