A Peoria man, Ivan Isho, was sentenced to five years in prison for wire fraud, false impersonation of a federal officer, and stalking, after a federal jury found Isho guilty of the charges.
According to the Department of Justice, court documents and evidence presented at trial, in 2016 and 2017, Isho pretended to be an FBI Special Agent and falsely represented to his victims, members of the Assyrian community in Ceres, that he could help them obtain visas for their family members living outside the United States. He displayed fake FBI credentials and a gun to aid his misrepresentations to his victims. They paid him thousands of dollars, including by means of interstate wire transmission, and provided him with copies of personal family documents. However, Isho had no ability to obtain and never helped to obtain visas for the victims’ family members. Isho was never employed in any capacity by the FBI.
Additionally, between April 2017 and April 2018, Isho held himself out as an FBI Special Agent to a female victim whom he harassed by means of repeated phone calls and threatening and harassing voicemail messages to both the victim and her husband.
Isho, age 44, testified at trial, claiming he only possessed the fake FBI credentials as part of a Halloween costume, despite recordings in evidence of the defendant’s voicemails claiming to be with the FBI received in the months of April 2017 and August 2017. He further admitted to threatening the stalking victim with abusive language and various threats.
At sentencing, Judge Drozd found that Isho’s false testimony at trial amounted to obstruction of justice.