Mexican scientist Héctor Cabrera Fuentes was sentenced this Tuesday to four years and one day in prison for spy for russia to a US government source, during a hearing held in Miami.
“I am deeply sorry for my actions and I apologize to the United States,” the biochemist told federal court in southeast Florida.
Cabrera Fuentes, originally from Oaxaca, had pleaded guilty in February of “acting in the United States for a foreign government without notifying the District Attorney,” a crime punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison.
According to court documents, a Russian official recruited him in May 2019, promising to help him resolve an immigration issue involving his Russian wife.
The assignment was to travel to Miami and take photos of the license plate of the car of an American who had provided information about the Russian government to Washington.
The scientist traveled to Miami from Mexico on February 13, 2020 to fulfill that mission.
The next day, he drove to the place where the US government source lived in a rental car.
There he caught the attention of a security guard because he entered the building by sticking to another vehicle before the entrance gate closed.
While the guard was talking to Cabrera Fuentes, his companion, a woman he is married to in Mexico, got out of the car, approached the Russian target’s vehicle and took a photo of the license plate.
On the night of February 16, when the defendant was preparing to leave the United States at the Miami airport, customs authorities searched his phone and found the license plate photograph on it. The police then arrested him.
Before the hearing, relatives of Cabrera Fuentes and scientists who worked with him sent letters to the court to highlight his work as a “world-renowned biochemist and cardiovascular researcher,” according to a memorandum sent to the judge.
A scientific work that, according to the document, “is only surpassed by his charitable work to support the people of his native Oaxaca.”
“Everyone makes mistakes in life and this is my big mistake,” Cabrera Fuentes declared in court, where he showed his desire to return to his job upon release from prison.
