Anna Fermanova, a 24-year-old Latvian-American emigre from Plano, Texas, is pinup-model pretty, a licensed cosmetologist and a communications major at the University of Phoenix. She spends most of her time in Moscow teaching English to Russians, but comes back often to visit her folks in Texas. And according to U.S. law enforcement, when she returns, she smuggles high-tech military gear back with her.
Or at least that's what they say she had with her when they detained her March 1 at JFK International Airport in New York. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials acting on an anonymous tip found a Raptor night-vision weapons sight and two other advanced rifle sights hidden inside a pair of Ugg boots at the time; they confiscated the scopes and let her continue on to Moscow. She was arrested when she returned to the United States on July 15 to visit her family and is currently under house arrest at her parents' home in Plano, a Dallas suburb.
Fermanova's arrest comes on the heels of the widely publicized bust of a Russian spy ring that had been operating in New York and New England for nearly a decade, and because of the parallels, some media outlets have already dubbed Fermanova "America's newest sexy Russian spy." But her attorney insists she is not.
"She is quite sexy, you could say, but she is not a spy," Fermanova's attorney, Scott Palmer, told The Dallas Morning News.
The rifle scopes found in Fermanova's baggage are on a list of defense munitions that may not be shipped out of the United States without a special license from the State Department. Palmer said Fermanova bought the scopes legally online for her husband, who lives in Moscow and has a friend who is an avid hunter.
When Federal agents stopped her at JFK, they asked Fermanova whether she knew about the export restrictions on the sights. She replied that she had "signed something about that" but wasn't really sure what she was signing. The agents' affidavit also states that Fermanova told them she had removed identification markings and covered over numbers on the scopes. "When agents asked if this was done so that she could get them out of the United States without a license, Fermanova replied yes," according to the affidavit.
While Fermanova's case is neither linked to nor as serious as the case of the Russian spy ring, news outlets and blogs have been quick to draw parallels. Like Anna Chapman, the bombshell beauty in the Russian spy-next-door ring, Fermanova had a raft of sexy photos posted on Facebook, making the parallel only too easy to draw.
But, Palmer said in the New York Daily News, "She's a nice Jewish girl who lives with her sweet Latvian parents," adding that the case "looks a lot worse than it really is."
Sources: Dallas Morning News, New York Daily News
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