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Two weeks before boarding a European Union-bound flight, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it was targeting 24-year-old Charlie Shoemaker for a "criminal" arrest on suspicion of making a false statement to a U.S. immigration officer.
A DHS agent on Sunday morning interviewed Shoemaker at the Los Angeles international airport, where he was passing through a regular Customs and Border Protection (CBP) checkpoint.
Shoemaker flew from Los Angeles to Las Vegas on May 6, and then from Las Vegas to Rome on May 9, and was scheduled to fly from Rome to Barcelona on May 13, according to a timeline of his movements compiled by Slate.
Shoemaker allegedly told the CBP agent on Sunday that he was carrying $11,000 in cash, and not the roughly $18,000 that his bank told CBP was in his account.
Shoemaker is now in custody at Los Angeles' Santa Ana jail. He is facing a potential criminal charge of making a false statement to a federal officer, according to Santa Ana city court records.
Shoemaker's lawyer, Nima Sadeghi, told The Daily Beast that his client is innocent and is willing to help the government with any evidence that proves his innocence.
"He is very apologetic about not telling the truth and is genuinely concerned that this is not going to lead to anything bad for him," said Sadeghi. "He was nervous because of the potential consequences of this interview. He was polite, respectful and not combative."
Sadeghi said that Shoemaker was pulled aside during a routine random search of the Los Angeles airport, where he was going through CBP's customs line.
"He was walking in a line and a CBP agent asked to speak to him, and asked him if he had any valuables on him. Mr. Shoemaker responded 'no' and got into his car," Sadeghi said.
While Shoemaker was waiting to get into his car at the gate, a CBP agent asked him for permission to search his bag, which was sitting in his vehicle.
"They asked him if they could search his bag, and he said 'yes, sure' and handed over his ac619d1d87
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