By Danny Gallagher w/Plano Star
A Plano woman accused of smuggling high powered night vision rifle sights to Russia entered a guilty plea in a federal court.
Anna Fermanova, 24, pleaded guilty in the U.S. Eastern District Court of New York on Friday. She was charged last July with trying to smuggle the sights on a flight from the U.S. to Russia, officials close to the case confirmed Saturday.
Fermanova’s attorney, Scott Palmer of Dallas, characterized his client’s the decision as the best choice she could make considering her circumstances.
“It was going to be an uphill battle and she decided it was in her best interest to accept responsibility for her conduct,” he said. “This will put herself in the best possible position to get the best possible sentence from the court.”
Fermanova faces 46 to 57 months in a federal prison for her charge. The court will render her sentence on April 29th. Palmer said he hopes the court will grant her probation instead considering such factors as age, the facts of her case and her lack of a criminal history.
“When you isolate this case for what it is,” Palmer said, “we’re hopeful the judge will see this and help sustain my argument.”
A complaint filed with the court in July of 2010 stated that U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement investigators received a tip from a confidential informant the previous February that Fermanova was trying to acquire a Raptor 4X Night Vision Weapons Sight and had acquires similar night vision scopes in the past. The ICE agent who filed the complaint described the “Raptor 4X” that attaches to an M4 assault rifle that can be use to “acquire and engage a target in low light conditions.”
ICE agents found Fermanova had flown to New York on March 1, 2010 to connect to a flight to Russia. Customs and Border Protection agents intercepted the luggage and found the “Raptor 4X” and two additional “generation 3″ night vision weapons sights. Agents also found the identification markings and numbers had been blacked out with a marker, according to the complaint.
Agents intercepted Fermanova before she boarded her flight and conducted an interview about their discovery. She said she was unaware about the exporting restrictions and admitted she didn’t have the legal Customs license to transport the items. She also said she had blacked out the numbers so they would be “less noticeable” and admitted she was bringing the scopes to her husband in Moscow. Agents seized the scopes and let her board her flight.
