Grand Jury Charges Salt Lake City Woman with Making False Statements to FBI Agents, Officers
| U.S. Attorney’s Office August 13, 2010 |
SALT LAKE CITY—Lul Noor Abdi, age 42, of Salt Lake City, is charged with making false statements to FBI special agents and task force officers in a two-count indictment unsealed Friday morning.
The indictment alleges Abdi made false and fictitious material statements and representations to the agents and officers. The indictment alleges she told them that she had taken her son to live in Uganda when, in fact, she had taken her son to live in Somalia.
The indictment also alleges Abdi falsely told agents and officers that she was supporting her son by sending money to a named individual in Uganda on her son’s behalf when, in fact, she was sending money to that named individual in Somalia.
Abdi was arrested Thursday. She entered not guilty pleas to the charges at a hearing Friday morning. A detention hearing is set for Tuesday at 10 a.m. in U.S. Magistrate Judge Sam Alba’s court. The potential maximum penalty for each count in the indictment is five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. An indictment is not a finding of guilt. Individuals charged in indictments are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty in court.