Justice Department Seeks to Denaturalize Chicago-Area Gymnastics Coach and Former Olympian Who Sexually Abused Multiple Minor Female Athletes
Defendant Allegedly Procured U.S. Citizenship for Which He Was Ineligible Due to His Repeated Sexual Abuse of Minor Females He Was Coaching
The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit seeking to revoke the naturalized U.S. citizenship of José Vilchis, who allegedly concealed from U.S. immigration authorities his repeated sexual abuse of at least three minor female athletes. According to the Department’s civil complaint, Vilchis, a native of Mexico, sexually assaulted the girls at various gymnastics training centers in the greater Chicago, Illinois, area over a span of decades. The complaint alleges that beginning as early as 1985, Vilchis sexually assaulted gymnastics students – some as young as 12 – whom he was coaching, and then concealed his conduct throughout multiple immigration proceedings. The complaint was filed in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois.
“The Department of Justice will do everything in its power to hold accountable those who sexually abuse minors,†said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “This individual’s abuse of his position of authority and trust to prey on his students is reprehensible, and but for his fraud on our immigration process, he never would have been granted a green card and never would have been permitted to naturalize as a U.S. citizen.â€
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-seeks-denaturalize-chicago-area-gymnastics-coach-and-former-olympian-who
