IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THEEASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
; SEP - 5 2014Alexandria Division
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
WENJING LIU,a/k/a LINDA LIU,
Defendant.
AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
I, Sean P. Clark, Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation
("FBI"), Washington Field Office ("WFO"), Washington, D.C., being duly sworn,
depose and state as follows:
1. I am a Special Agent (SA) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) assigned to the Northern Virginia Resident Agency of the Washington Field
Office. I have been a Special Agent with the FBI since January 1999. I am
currently assigned to investigations relating to, among other things, crimes against
children, including international parental kidnapping. As a federal agent, I am
authorized to investigate violations of the laws ofthe United States and am a law
enforcement officer with authority to execute warrants issued under the authority
of the United States.
Criminal No. 1:14MJ438
Case 1:14-mj-00438-JFA Document 2 Filed 09/05/14 Page 1 of 6 PageID# 2
2. This affidavit is submitted in support of a criminal complaint charging
WENJING LIU (hereinafter "LIU"), also known as LINDA LIU, with knowingly
and unlawfully attempting to remove a child from the United States with intent to
obstruct the lawful exercise of parental rights, in violation of Title 18 U.S.C.
1204.
3. The facts and information contained in this affidavit are based on my
own investigation and on the investigation of other law enforcement officers with
whom I have spoken or whose reports I have reviewed. This affidavit contains
information necessary to support probable cause and is not intended to include
each and every fact and matter observed by me or known to the government.
Factual Basis Supporting Probable Cause
4. On October 21, 2007, LIU and William J. Ruifrok, III (hereinafter
"Ruifrok") were legally married in Leesburg, Virginia. Ruifrok is a United States
citizen. LIU is a Chinese citizen, and during her marriage to Ruifrok was a legal
permanent resident of the United States. During their marriage, LIU and Ruifrok
had one child together, W.L.R., who was born in Tianjin, Chinaon May 1,2010.W.L.R. is a dual United States and Chinese citizen.
5. From 2007 to 2013, LIU and Ruifrok lived together at various
addresses throughout Northern Virginia. In 2013, LIU and Ruifrok separated and
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*/
initiated divorce proceedings. On May 16, 2014, a judge of the Juvenile and
Domestic Relations District Court of the County of Loudoun entered a Consent
Final Custody and Visitation Order (hereinafter "Custody Order") providing LIU
and Ruifrokwithjoint legal custody of W.L.R. The Custody Order expresslystipulates that "[njeither party may travel with the minor child outside the United
States without the express written and notarized consent of the other party,
provided in advance of the trip."
6. On September 4, 2014, at approximately 11:00 a.m., Ruifrok received
an email message from LIU stating that she had received a telephone call from her
family in China advising that her grandmother was dying. In her email, LIU wrote
"we gotta fly back asap." At approximately 11:02 a.m., Ruifrok responded via
email message stating, "WBBBis not going, ucant take him to school, I will pick
him up. He will stay with me until u return." At approximately 12:02p.m., LIU
responded via email message and informed Ruifrok that she had already booked
the plane ticket for W.L.R. and that they were leaving immediately. The email
message further stated that LIU would notify Ruifrok upon her return to the United
States and that she needed to replace W.L.R.'s birth certificate.
7. On September 4, 2014, at around noon, LIU boarded a direct flight
from Dulles, Virginia to Beijing, China with W.L.R. and LIU's mother. At no
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point did Ruifrok consent to W.L.R. being taken outside the United States. The
flight departed Washington Dulles International Airport, within the Eastern District
of Virginia, at approximately 12:20 p.m. and entered Canadian airspace several
hours later.
8. In response to LIU's emails, Ruifrok immediately traveled to
Washington Dulles International Airport and reported the violation of the Custody
Order to a law enforcement official. A review ofpassenger manifests for flights
departing for China confirmed that LIU, W.L.R., and LIU's mother had boarded an
international flight. After authorities alerted the airlines that they had reason to
believe there was a passenger on the flight who had violated a state custody order
and federal criminal law, the airplane that LIU and W.L.R. had boarded returned to
Washington Dulles International Airport. LIU was taken into custody shortly after
the airplane landed.
9. Although LIU had advised Ruifrok that the trip was prompted by
notification on September 3,2014, of her grandmother's declining health, travel
records reflect that on August 27, 2014, LIU made flight reservations and paid for
one-way airline tickets for her mother and W.L.R. to travel direct to Beijing, China
on September 4, 2014. In addition, W.L.R.'s United States passport shows that a
Chinese entry visa was issued on August 27, 2014.
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10. After her arrest, LIU was advised of her Miranda rights and agreed to
be interviewed by law enforcement officers. During the interview, LIU admitted
to having knowingly violated the Custody Order by removing W.L.R. from the
United States without Ruifrok's consent. LIU agreed to show the interviewing
officers the email communications she had with Ruifrok on September 4, 2014.
Those emails reflect that Ruifrok objected to LIU traveling with W.L.R. outside
the United States. During her interview, LIU stated that she intended to return
W.L.R. to the United States after waiting approximately three months to receive
W.L.R.'s birth certificate in China. While travel records reflect that LIU had
purchased a ticket to fly from China to the United States on November 3,2014,
there are no records reflecting that LIU purchased a ticket for W.L.R.'s return to
the United States.
Conclusion
11. Based on the foregoing, there is probable cause to believe that on
September 4,2014, within the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere,
WENJING LIU, also known as LINDA LIU, did unlawfully and knowingly
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attempt to remove a child from the United States with intent to obstruct the lawful
exercise of parental rights.
4^, p cau.Sean P. ClarkSpecial AgentFederal Bureau of Investigation
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 5th day of September, 2014.
/8/Thomas Rawles Jones, Jr.
The Honorable Thomas Rawles Jones, Jr.United States Magistrate JudgeEastern District of Virginia
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