By Meg Richards. .c The Associated Press
MIAMI, 18 (AP) - A U.S. immigration official charged with spying for Cuba was arrested after falling straight into a trap set by the FBI, investigators said Friday.
The FBI said it fed him phony information about a pending defection and then caught him passing it on just 12 minutes later to a contact with ties to the Cuban government.
Mariano Faget, 54, a Cuban-born supervisor in the Miami office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, may have been passing on classified information about Cuban defectors for some time, authorities said.
According to court papers, Faget met with Cuban intelligence officials in Miami on at least two occasions, contacted officials with the agency that represents Cuba in Washington and had regular contact with the man he called last week in the sting - a New York businessman with ties to the Cuban
government.
Authorities said they had been investigating Faget for a year but wouldn't say how long they believe he had been passing on classified information. They also said they were uncertain about the effects of his alleged espionage - whether any Cubans were prevented from defecting, for example.
Faget (pronounced fy-EHT'), who was arrested Thursday, is charged with violating the federal Espionage Act and making false statements to a federal officer. The first charge carries up to 10 years in prison; the second could bring five years.
Appearing in court Friday, the paunchy, balding Faget was ordered held until a bail hearing Thursday. He caught the eyes of relatives and friends as he walked into court and held his left hand to his heart.
Defense attorney Joel Kaplan would not comment. Nor would Faget's family members and friends.
Federal prosecutors said they will ask that Faget be held as a flight risk and a danger to the community.
Faget and his father came to the United States and claimed political asylum in 1960, the year after Fidel Castro came to power. Faget became a U.S. citizen in 1963.
He began working for the INS as a clerk in 1966, INS district director Bob Wallis said. Faget would have been eligible for retirement next month.
Faget, who is married, lives in the Miami suburb of Kendall. Neighbor Beatrice Vallenilla said she believes Faget has three adult children.
As a supervisory district adjudication officer for the INS, Faget had ``secret'' security clearance and oversaw decisions that affected the residency status of immigrants, the FBI said.
FBI spokesman Paul Mallett said Faget waited only 12 minutes Feb. 11 before he passed on the phony information that a Cuban official was about to defect.
According to court papers, INS and FBI officials showed Faget pictures of a Cuban intelligence official he knew, and told Faget that the man wanted to defect and that the information was secret and very sensitive.
After the meeting, Faget returned to his office and used his personal cell phone to call the New York businessman.
``Faget told the businessman that `a person we both know' was `one of the ones working with the Americans,''' U.S. Attorney Thomas Scott said in a statement. ``Faget then identified the Cuban intelligence officer by name.''
Later, Faget called the man from home and discussed the case in more detail, the FBI said.
According to court papers, Faget and the New York businessman are officers of a Florida company whose stated purpose is to engage in future business transactions with Cuba.
State records show Faget is vice president and secretary of America-Cuba Inc., a company created in 1994. The company's president and chief executive is listed as Pedro Font of Greenwich, Conn. A source close to the investigation confirmed for The Associated Press that Font was the businessman
referred to in the affidavit.
A number listed for Font in Greenwich, Conn., was disconnected. The affidavit said Font was in China on Monday.
Jose Goyanes, listed in state records as a Miami-based executive of America-Cuba, said Friday he was surprised by the charges against Faget.
``The guy is a family man. He works for the government,'' Goyanes said. ``This is the last thing I ever thought. The courts will prove him innocent when it is all over.''
Federal authorities said that in addition to the New York contact, Faget placed calls to the Cuban diplomatic mission in Washington, which is known as the Cuban Interests Section, and met with two Cuban intelligence officers.
The FBI has recommended to the State Department that a contact of Faget's at the Cuban diplomatic mission be asked to leave the country, a Clinton administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
A spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section declined comment. The White House also had no immediate comment.
Wallis said all of the cases that had crossed Faget's desk would be closely reviewed. Early Friday, authorities searched Faget's office and his home and seized two computers and his automobile.
His arrest comes amid already strained relations with the communist island over Elian Gonzalez, the 6-year-old Cuban boy found clinging to an inner tube off the Florida coast Nov. 25. His mother and 10 others died when their boat sank in an attempt to reach the United States.
The boy's Miami relatives are fighting to keep him in the United States, despite an order by the INS to reunite Elian with his father in Cuba. Faget had nothing to do with Elian's case, Wallis said.
Authorities also said Faget had no connection to a large Cuban spy ring broken up in 1998. Fourteen people were accused of trying to penetrate U.S. military bases, infiltrate anti-Castro exile groups and manipulate U.S. media and political organizations.
Five people have pleaded guilty. Others go on trial in May.
EDITOR'S NOTE - Associated Press Writer George Gedda in Washington contributed to this report.
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