Former Philippines National Police Official Indicted

News Release, 6 October 2005

US Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey

Michael Ray Aquino

Former Philippines National Police Official Indicted

NEWARK - Former Philippines National Police official Michael Ray Aquino was indicted today for conspiring with a former FBI intelligence analyst in the passing of classified information to current and former officials in the Philippines, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

The Indictment charges Michael Ray Aquino, 39, with one count of conspiracy, which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years, and one count of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign official, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Aquino, a Filipino national in the United States on an expired visa, was arrested on a criminal complaint at his residence in Queens, N.Y. on Sept. 10. Aquino remains in federal custody at the Passaic County Jail. Also arrested that day was Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, of Woodbury in Gloucester County, New Jersey, an FBI analyst at Fort Monmouth Information Technology Center (FMITC) in Monmouth County since July 2004. Aragoncillo is being held at the Hudson County Jail.

Aquino will not be appearing in court today. An arraignment on the Indictment will likely take place sometime in the next two weeks before a U.S. District Judge.

The Indictment, which closely mirrors the accusations contained in the criminal complaint, accuses Aquino of conspiring to share information received from an FBI intelligence analyst with current and former high-ranking officials of the Philippines. Neither the complaint nor today's Indictment specifically identify those officials.

The FBI analyst worked at the FMITC and used an FBI database to search, download and print more than 150 classified documents and other sensitive information concerning the Philippines, according to the Indictment. The analyst, identified in the Indictment only by his initials, transmitted the information to Aquino and other top former and current officials in the Philippines.

The classified materials were allegedly transmitted by the FBI analyst to Aquino and others via his personal, non-government email accounts using computers at FMITC and his home. The FBI analyst, Aquino, the three unidentified Filipino public officials and others communicated with one another using e-mail, telephone and text messages, according to the Indictment.

Aquino served as the Deputy Director of the Philippines National Police - Intelligence Group, and a Senior Superintendent of the now-disbanded Philippines Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force.

Aquino was arrested in New York by Special Agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for overstaying a tourist visa issued to Aquino on July 7, 2001. Following the arrest, the now-former FBI analyst appeared at ICE offices in New York and identified himself to agents as an FBI employee and friend of Aquino, according to the criminal complaint. He subsequently called an ICE agent to inquire on the status of the investigation, prompting an ICE agent to notify the FBI about the FBI analyst's inquiries.

The FBI, among other things, then commenced an audit of the analyst's use of the FBI database, revealing that he had conducted extensive unauthorized searches concerning the Philippines and either printed or downloaded classified documents.

Additional records obtained from Yahoo! and Hotmail revealed that as early as January 2005 and continuing into this September, the analyst used his Yahoo! and Hotmail accounts to transmit classified documents and information to individuals in the Philippines, including the current and former public officials in the Philippines referenced above.

Despite indictment, the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Leslie Wiser, Jr., in Newark, with the investigation leading to the indictment.

The case is being prosecuted by Stuart Rabner, Chief of the U.S. Attorney's Office Criminal Division in Newark, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Karl H. Buch.

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Defense Attorney:

for Aquino: Mark Berman, Esq. Newark