10 months ago
A federal judge has sent a Centerville man to Philadelphia to face charges of buying and shipping about 7,000 stolen cell phones.
Hussein Ali Asfour is charged with being part of an international ring trafficking weapons and stolen goods.
According to the FBI, Asfour is charged with conspiracy to transport stolen property and faces up to five years in prison. A criminal complaint in the case listed his address as 100 Cross Link Trail.
In a Wednesday morning hearing in U.S. District Court in Macon, Judge C. Ashley Royal denied bail for Asfour and ordered that he be taken to Philadelphia to face that charge. That's according to an order released by Patricia Hartman of the U.S. Attorney's office in Philadelphia.
USA Today reports that Asfour was charged along with four other men, including three accused of trying to buy Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and machine guns destined for Syria or Iran.
USA Today describes the five men as Lebanese.
But the FBI news release and an affidavit released by the FBI's Philadelphia office does not accuse Asfour of involvement in the weapons deal. They also do not describe how the stolen cell-phone deals were connected to the weapons purchases.
The affidavit given by a supervising special agent with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in Philadelphia describes Asfour's involvement. It says he and a co-conspirator met with an undercover officer in Philadelphia five times between December 2007 and March 2008. In each case, the affidavit says, the undercover agent delivered stolen cell phones, which Asfour sent to Los Angeles or Detroit.
The FBI says Asfour was arrested Monday in Georgia.
Houston County tax records list Asfour as the owner of the Centerville house, which is valued at $400,000. He bought the house in February 2008, according to the county board of assessors.
