Convicted Sex Offender Indicted for Naturalization Fraud

WILMINGTON, N.C. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment on Tuesday charging Anibal Rios Lavias, 30, a U.S. citizen born in Mexico, with naturalization fraud.  The indictment alleges that Lavias lied about his criminal conduct on his application to obtain U.S. citizenship.

According to the indictment and previously issued court documents, Lavias is alleged to have made knowingly and materially false statements under oath and penalty of perjury during a naturalization interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS).  In response to the questions “Were you EVER involved in any way with any of the following: … [f]orcing or trying to force someone to have any kind of sexual contact or relations?” and “Have you EVER committed, assisted in committing, or attempted to commit, a crime or offense for which you were NOT arrested?” he answered “No.”  Lavias took the oath of citizenship and naturalized on May 4, 2018.

On March 19, 2024, in the Superior Court of North Carolina in Alamance County, Lavias pleaded guilty to five counts of statutory sexual offense with a child by an adult.  He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of between 300 and 420 months and ordered to register as a sex offender.  Lavias confessed to having committed the crimes between February 25, 2018, and February 26, 2023.  The victim was five years old when the abuse began.  He was not arrested until after he naturalized, so immigration officials were unaware of his crimes prior to granting citizenship.

Lavias is charged in a two-count indictment with naturalization fraud. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison as well as the automatic revocation of his U.S. citizenship.   

Daniel P. Bubar, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement. Officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division assigned to the Document Benefit Fraud Task Force are investigating the case as part of Operation False Haven, an ongoing initiative designed to aggressively target egregious felons who fraudulently obtain U.S. citizenship.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Lori Warlick is prosecuting the case.

Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:25-cr-00152-BO-RJ.

An indictment is merely an accusation.  The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.