Saudi nationals facing serious criminal charges from rape to murder get whisked away to their home country to avoid sentencing

Barbie Latza Nadeau
The Daily Beast
Fri, 01 Feb 2019 17:00 UTC

© Multnomah County Sheriff's Office

New legislation introduced by Oregon senators aims to punish Saudi Arabia following shocking allegations that the kingdom has whisked as many as five young men facing criminal charges, ranging from rape to murder, out of the country from that state alone.

Speaking publicly for the first time Thursday, the parents of Fallon Smart, a 15-year-old victim of a hit and run by Saudi student Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah in 2016, said they were horrified to learn their daughter's alleged assailant had disappeared two weeks before his trial with the help of the Saudi government. Noorah was charged with manslaughter, felony hit-and-run, and reckless driving in the teen's death. He faced a minimum prison sentence of 10 years.

Federal investigators confirmed to the Oregonian/Oregon Live that a private lawyer hired by the Saudi consulate posted $100,000 of a $1 million bail for the 21-year-old and apparently arranged for a dark SUV to pick him up shortly after he left jail. His severed electronic bracelet was found at a nearby gravel yard. Authorities believe he was given a forged passport, since his was sequestered by Oregon authorities, and flown back to Saudi Arabia on a private jet. He was seen back in his home country a week after he disappeared.

"It's like the laws of physics go out the door," Fallon's mother, Fawn Lengvenis, told Oregon Live on Thursday. "And it all starts from the beginning again."

The teen victim's father, Seth Smart, said he cannot help obsessing about his daughter's killer. "The imagination runs wild," he said. "Is he just leading his normal life somewhere? Does he even think about it? Does he even care?"

The cases of Saudi students eluding Oregon justice are hauntingly familiar. In 2014, Abdulaziz Al Duways was arrested on accusations that he drugged and raped a classmate in Monmouth, Oregon. He, too, disappeared after the Saudi consulate helped secure bail. Four of the young men who vanished have been represented by the same attorney, Ginger Mooney, according to local court documents.

The new legislation introduced by Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden would allow the federal government to actively investigate alleged disappearances and make it more difficult for foreign nationals to be granted bail arranged by consulates.

"When anyone within our nation commits a crime, they need to be held accountable-especially when that crime results in the death of an innocent teenager," Sen. Merkley said in a statement "Saudi Arabia's blatant disrespect for international norms cannot be allowed to stand. We should all be able to agree that any nation that helps their citizens escape from the law needs to be held fully accountable."

Around 1,000 of an estimated 60,000 Saudi students currently studying in the United States live in Oregon, according to a recent report in Gulf News, which estimates that only 8,272 are self-sponsored. The rest are on stipends provided by the Saudi kingdom. Disappearances of Saudi nationals facing criminal justice have also been reported in Ohio and California as well as Canada.

Comment: Here are some cases of Saudi nationals fleeing the US and Canada after criminal charges:

Mohammed Zuraibi Al-Zoabi
Nova Scotia, Canada
Disappeared: December 2018

Mohammed Zuraibi Al-Zoabi was a student at Cape Breton University when he faced numerous charges of sexual assault, assault and forcible confinement of a woman, with the alleged incidents occurring between 2015 and 2017, according to The Chronicle Herald newspaper in Halifax. According to the Star Halifax newspaper, Al-Zoabi last year received $37,500 of his bail from the Saudi Embassy in Ottawa. In early December, a Canadian sheriff tried to find Al-Zoabi, then 28, the newspaper reported, but he was nowhere to be found. His attorney, David Ianetti, told authorities the Saudi man had "fled the country some time ago," according to court documents. Police had previously seized his passport.

Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah
Multnomah County, Oregon
Disappeared: June 2017

Portland police arrested Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah, then 20, in the fatal hit-and-run of Fallon Smart, 15, in August 2016. He faced charges of first-degree manslaughter and felony-hit-and run. After his arrest, the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles retained private defense attorneys Ginger Mooney and David McDonald to work on Noorah's case and paid his bail, set at $1 million, according to court records and prosecutors. He turned over his passport to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a condition of his release. He was placed under house arrest, required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet on his ankle and allowed to take classes at Portland Community College. Two weeks before his June 2017 trial, Noorah disappeared. Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Marshals Service now believe he left his Southeast Portland neighborhood in a black SUV, cut his ankle monitor and later used an illicit passport and private plane - likely provided by the Saudi government - to flee the country. In July 2018, more than 13 months after he first disappeared, the Saudis contacted Homeland Security to inform the agency that Noorah was back home.

Sami Suliman Almezaini
Gallatin County, Montana
Disappeared: July 2017

Sami Suliman Almezaini is accused of raping his roommate after the pair returned home from a downtown Bozeman music festival in July 2017, court documents show. After the woman reported the assault, detectives tried to interview him. He agreed to meet them at the police station but did not show up. A Montana State classmate told police he was trying to flee the country with the help of two friends. Detectives believe all three flew from Seattle to Ciudad Juarez Mexico, then Saudi Arabia. Almezaini was formally charged with sexual intercourse without consent in March 2018, when a judge signed a warrant for his arrest. Almezaini had lived in Bozeman for 2 ½ years, according to a Facebook page bearing his name.

Saud Alabdullatif
Spokane County, Washington
Disappeared: May 2016

Cheney police allege Saud Alabdullatif, an Eastern Washington University student, held a woman against her will and forced her to perform oral sex on him in May 2016. He was jailed on charges of forcible second-degree rape and unlawful imprisonment, court records show. Authorities set his bail at $100,000. Two days after an initial court appearance, Alabdullatif, then 21, posted a $12,000 bond through Ace's Bail Bonds in Spokane to secure his release from jail, according to court and jail records. He left that same day, boarded a plane in Seattle and eventually returned to Saudi Arabia, Cheney Police Capt. Rick Begthol told The Oregonian/OregonLive. Spokane County authorities issued a warrant for Alabdullatif's arrest on May 31, 2016, and filed to have his bail forfeited, court records show.

Suliman Ali Algwaiz
Multnomah County, Oregon
Disappeared: October 2016

Suliman Ali Algwaiz entered no-contest pleas to third-degree assault, driving under the influence of intoxicants, and other charges in August 2016. Authorities said the Portland State University accounting major was drunk earlier that year when he struck and critically injured a homeless man while driving the wrong way on a downtown street. Police said he kept driving. His college-age sister, also studying in Portland, deposited $31,260 into his inmate account so he could bail himself out, jail records show. He privately retained Ginger Mooney as his attorney. Algwaiz, then 21, was sentenced to 90 days in jail, which he was allowed to serve on weekends. He never completed his sentence. Records show he recovered his passport from the Portland Police Bureau's property and evidence division Sept. 20 and last contacted Multnomah County authorities a few weeks later.

Faisal Altaleb
Gallatin County, Montana
Disappeared: November 2016

A Gallatin County judge issued an arrest warrant for Faisal Altaleb in January 2017 after a Bozeman police investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman he met at a bar. Her friends identified him two weeks later in downtown Bozeman and reported him to police, according to court documents. Altaleb told investigators who interviewed him nine days later that he had moved to Bozeman that semester from Portland to enroll in Montana State University. He denied the assault and said the last time he had sex was in Portland, where he said he lived for 1 ½ years. He is believed to have fled to Saudi Arabia soon after the interview, according to prosecutors. A Facebook account registered to his name was active as recently as early February. His precise whereabouts are unkown.

Abdulaziz Hamad Al Duways
Polk County, Oregon
Disappeared: January 2015

In December 2014, Abdulaziz Hamad Al Duways, a Western Oregon University student, was arrested in Monmouth and accused of raping a classmate after giving her marijuana and shots of liquor. The judge ordered the student to turn over his passport to Ginger Mooney, the private defense lawyer hired to represent him, according to court records and the Polk County District Attorney's Office. A few days later, an official with the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles posted his $500,000 bail. Al Duways, then 25, disappeared. "We had concerns about him returning to Saudi Arabia," Jayme Kimberly, Polk County chief deputy district attorney, recently told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Waleed Ali Alharthi
Benton County, Oregon
Disappeared: March 2015

Waleed Ali Alharthi was a student at Oregon State University when sheriff's deputies say they found his laptop computer filled with child pornography, according to court records and the university. He faced 10 counts of first-degree encouraging child sex abuse. An official with the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles posted Alharthi's bail, which was $500,000, records show. Alharthi, then 25, was required to turn over his passport to a trial court administrator, according to court documents. He did not show up to a court appearance on April 2, 2015. His lawyer, Ginger Mooney, told the court she feared her client might be dead. Investigators learned from Transportation Security Administration officials that Alharthi had boarded a plane in Mexico City bound for Paris a week earlier. It is unknown when or how Alharthi arrived in Mexico from the U.S.

Monsour Alshammari
Utah County, Utah
Disappeared and Captured: April 2015

Monsour Alshammari, a university exchange student sponsored by the Saudi Arabian government, was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in his Orem apartment after the pair went on a date in February 2015. He was charged with first-degree rape and obstruction of justice, according to court documents. The Saudi Consulate posted his $100,000 bail in cash and retained prominent Utah defense attorney Ron Yengich, records show. Authorities in Utah notified the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that Alshammari, then 27, was a flight risk. The Oregonian/OregonLive could not determine whether he was required to turn over his passport as a condition of his release. In April, Alshammari was detained while trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border and was later extradited back to Utah, court records show. He eventually pleaded guilty to first-degree rape and was sentenced to a year in prison.

Abdullah Almakrami
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Disappeared: April 2014

According to Wisconsin court records, Abdullah Almakrami, 28, was charged with sexually assaulting a woman he didn't know after inviting her into his apartment. The alleged assault took place in March 2014. He was accused of false imprisonment and two counts of second-degree sexual assault. He was ordered to surrender his passport and was placed on pretrial supervision, according to the records, which also show that a criminal defense lawyer named Michael Steinle of Elm Grove, Wisconsin, posted $10,000 bail. The documents show Steinle was privately retained; Steinle did not respond immediately to an email sent Feb. 6. Almakrami failed to make a court appearance the following month and was charged with felony bail jumping. Days earlier, Almakrami also failed to show up at an expulsion hearing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, records show. He told school staff he couldn't attend because he was out of the country. The court then seized the bail money. A Milwaukee Fox News affiliate reported that Almakrami had fled to his native Saudi Arabia, where later that year he posted updates about the weather and food on social media.

Hani Alshammary
Erie County, Pennsylvania
Disappeared: April 2014

Erie County authorities say Hani Alshammary, 33, assaulted a woman at a party at his home. Alshammary was a student at Gannon University, where he studied political science, according to a local news report. Court records show he was accused of attempted rape, forcible compulsion, unlawful restraint, harassment and disorderly conduct. His bail originally was set at $100,000 but a judge later reduced it to $50,000, records show. A fellow student posted the amount and the suspect flew out of Detroit two days later, according to a local press account. Authorities at the time said they didn't know his destination, the account said. Alshammary subsequently failed to show up at a preliminary hearing and his arraignment. He is considered a fugitive from justice by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Fahad Al Ghuwainem
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Disappeared: December 2014

Fahad Al Ghuwainem, 28, was one of two men accused of raping a man who one of them met at an Oklahoma City bar in October 2014, according to a local press report. Both suspects, studying in the U.S. on scholarships from the Saudi Arabian government, posted bail. The bail was paid for by a local criminal defense firm called the Jefferson Law Firm, according to court records. One of the men, Naif Albaquami, 30, was convicted of first-degree rape, court records show. Al Ghuwainem failed to appear in court that December, prompting a judge to issue a warrant for his arrest. In March 2015, the $25,000 bond was forfeited to the state. His whereabouts are unknown.

Unidentified man
Missoula County, Montana
Disappeared: February 2012

An unnamed University of Montana student from Saudi Arabia was accused of assaulting two women on a single day in February 2012. The campus newspaper, The Montana Kaimin, reported that one woman said the man forced her to drink something that incapacitated her, then raped her. The second woman said she escaped the man after he kissed her without consent. The women separately reported what happened to campus police. A university official contacted the man twice about the allegations, according to The Missoulian. He vanished within days, according to the paper. University leaders drew criticism for failing to tell local police about the allegations, which could have led to his arrest.

Ali Hussain Alhamoud
Lincoln County, Oregon
Disappeared: April 2012

A Toledo Police Department investigation claims Ali Hussain Alhamoud, who was studying at Oregon State University, sexually assaulted a young woman on Valentine's Day 2012. Federal court records show the Saudi government bailed out Alhamoud, then 18, from the Lincoln County Jail after he was indicted on multiple sex crime charges, including first-degree rape. His bail had been set at $650,000. He boarded a plane in Portland the same day and returned to Saudi Arabia, the FBI said in a criminal complaint. The Oregonian/OregonLive could not determine whether Alhamoud had surrendered his passport as a condition of his release from jail.

Taher Ali Al-Saba
Nova Scotia, Canada
Disappeared: January 2007

Taher Ali Al-Saba was a 19-year-old Saudi national studying English in Halifax when he was charged with sexually assaulting two children in June 2006. Al-Saba disappeared as he was set to go to trial on charges that he sexually assaulted a boy and a girl, both under 14, according to The Chronicle Herald newspaper in Halifax. He was released from jail after his family wired $10,000 from the U.S. to Canada, the newspaper reported in 2007. Al-Saba was ordered to stay in Canada and surrender his passport. According to a Canadian prosecutor at the time, Al-Saba appeared to travel to Ottawa and then left the country. "We confirmed he left the country through the Saudi Arabian Embassy," prosecutor Catherine Cogswell told The Chronicle Herald. "They refused to co-operate with us in terms of telling us how that happened."

Siraj Marakeey
Snohomish County, Washington
Disappeared: July 1991

Snohomish County prosecutors issued a warrant to arrest Siraj Marakeey on an allegation of first-degree rape in June 1991. During 1989, Marakeey was a 24-year-old foreign exchange student from Saudi Arabia, living with a family in Lynnwood, according to court papers. He was accused of sexually assaulting a girl who was about 10 years old at the time. He allegedly entered her bedroom, fondled her and tried to have sex with her, according to a probable cause affidavit. By July 1990, Marakeey was believed to have been attending college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, according to the affidavit. "Defendant has evidently left the state of Washington,'' then-Snohomish County Deputy Prosecutor Lisa D. Paul wrote in the affidavit. An arrest warrant was sought on June 17, 1991, and signed the next day, with bail set at $10,000. The warrant remains active and seeks Marakeey's extradition from anywhere in the U.S. There's no record that Marakeey, now 54, has ever been arrested in the case, according to Rebecca Orr, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish County District Attorney's Office.

Abdulrahman Ali Al-Plaies
Greene County, Ohio
Disappeared: November 1988

Abdulrahman Ali Al-Plaies, 27, was accused of causing a fiery car crash that killed a 79-year-old woman in the center of Xenia, a small Ohio town, in June 1988. Officials with the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., demanded police release Al-Plaies from jail, claiming the Central State University student was mentally ill and the accident not his fault, records show. The embassy later retained Steven Hurley as his private attorney. Authorities did not seize Al-Plaies' passport and were told it had been misplaced or lost, according to a letter from the prosecutor's office. Days before his November trial, a judge inexplicably cut his bail by half, to $25,000, and the Saudi Embassy put up the cash. The young man walked out of jail the same day with a Saudi military officer. He got into a car and was never seen in this country again. "I can only describe this case as justice delayed, if not denied, by a foreign government," Stephen Wolaver, the attorney assigned to prosecute Al-Plaies, recently told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

See also: Saudi Arabia hid knowledge that hundreds of Saudi and Kuwaiti students studying in US have joined terrorist groups