Examining Perrysburg Schools' identity fraud case through a legal lens
Many in the community are left wondering: how did this happen?
Anthony Labrador Sierra, 24, is accused of posing as a 16-year-old high school student.
Immigration attorney Margaret Wong weighed in on the legal implications.
'I get goosebumps when I hear that my 16-year-old daughter could be in the same class as a 24-year-old man,' Wong said.
Labrador Sierra, a Venezuelan national, is accused of falsifying documents to enroll at Perrysburg High School. Authorities said he claimed to be an unaccompanied minor experiencing homelessness.
WATCH: Police arrest 24-year-old accused of posing as Ohio high school student
The district said it followed federal and state requirements under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which mandates enrollment for students experiencing homelessness or without a legal guardian.
Wong said the school was operating with the right intentions.
'I sort of feel bad for the school because I think now the school is sending out media releases saying it's not their fault,' she said. 'Of course it's not their fault. If someone lies to them — and it's such a small, beautiful, welcoming town — I think we shouldn't blame the school. We should ask what kind of people come to America and do that.'
Labrador Sierra participated in the junior varsity soccer and swim teams, which raises concerns about an unfair competitive advantage due to his age.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) issued a statement:
'Thanks again for your communication and transparency on this issue. After a review, Perrysburg HS took all appropriate actions to verify this person's information, and even inquired/communicated with our office back in the fall, in order to determine their athletic eligibility. As your Superintendent indicated, this case involves highly unusual and deceptive circumstances that impacted many local, state and federal agencies, and your school had no way of knowing/combating this falsification. As such, there are no penalties or forfeitures which will be required of your sports teams on which this individual played.
'Also, I know this person will not be coming back to any school, but his eligibility has been revoked under Bylaw 4-1-2, Falsification.
'Thanks again for your efforts, and let me know if you have any follow up questions.'
Wong also noted that the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld the Trump administration's decision to strip legal protections from approximately 350,000 Venezuelans.
Former New York state trooper pleads guilty to faking his own shooting
Labrador Sierra was taken into custody at the Wood County jail and faces felony forgery charges.
The Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer for Labrador Sierra.
'Anthony Emmanuel Labrador-Sierra is a 24-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela who has been posing as teenager and attending Perrysburg High School in Ohio,' DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. 'Labrador was arrested and charged with forgery by the Perrysburg Ohio Police Department on May 19 for using fake documents to become enrolled in the high school. ICE lodged a detainer to ensure that this criminal illegal alien is removed from this community and no longer able to prey on the students of Perrysburg High School. It is disturbing that a grown man would impersonate a teenager and infiltrate the lives of underage girls and boys to fool them into doing God knows what.'
Wong believes he will face prosecution in Wood County before any immigration proceedings take place — especially if additional charges emerge.
'Immigration should immediately issue a Notice to Appear,' she said. 'Actually, don't even issue a Notice to Appear — I would just deport him right away. I know it sounds harsh, and I'm a foreign-born immigrant myself. But on the other hand, is deportation punishment enough?'
Wong called the case an extreme violation of trust and kindness.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
a day ago
- CBS News
McKinney man charged with murder after his wife was found dead in a closet, police say
A 42-year-old McKinney man has been charged with murder after firefighters responding to a welfare check found his wife dead in a closet with a stab wound on Friday. Around 6 p.m., McKinney firefighters and police were called to the 5700 block of Broken Spur Drive after a family member in Dallas requested a welfare check. According to police, overseas relatives believed Eslam Mohamed may have been having a medical emergency. The McKinney Fire crew arrived at the home first and forced entry, police said. They found Mohamed on the living room couch with minor injuries and saw blood on his hands. When asked if anyone else was in the home, he mentioned a woman in a closet, the report states. Firefighters found a dead woman in the master bedroom closet with a stab wound to her neck, later identified as Mohamed's wife, 40-year-old Kubra Zafer. Police said a knife was found nearby. The firefighters immediately exited the home and waited for police to arrive. Mohamed was taken into custody and taken to the hospital for treatment, police said. He was later booked into the Collin County Jail for murder. The investigation is ongoing.
Epoch Times
a day ago
- Epoch Times
Corina Machado Denounces ‘Brutal Wave of Repression' in Venezuela
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said on Tuesday that more than 20 people have been imprisoned by Venezuelan authorities in what she described as 'a brutal wave of repression' and urged other countries to act. 'The Maduro regime unleashes a brutal wave of repression in Venezuela: more than 20 people have disappeared and been imprisoned in 72 hours,' Machado wrote in a post on her X account. 'International justice HAS THE OBLIGATION to hold the perpetrators accountable.'
NBC News
a day ago
- NBC News
ICE targets Los Angeles homeless shelter
LOS ANGELES — Immigration officials have been repeatedly spotted outside a Hollywood homeless shelter since May, leading staff to accompany residents from war-torn countries to work, errands and court. An executive at the shelter that serves people ages 18 to 24 said she saw two Venezuelan men handcuffed and arrested by ICE agents after they returned to the shelter from work. 'There was no conversation,' said the employee, Lailanie, who asked that her last name not be used because she feared retribution from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She said about half a dozen immigration officers went up to the residents 'and put their hands behind their backs right away.' Homeless shelters appear to be another target in the Trump administration's ongoing immigration crackdown, which has resulted in nearly 3,000 arrests in the Los Angeles area. They now join Home Depots, 7-Elevens and cannabis farms as locations where the federal government is carrying out its mass deportation effort. In addition to the Hollywood shelter, service providers have reported seeing immigration enforcement at shelters in North Hollywood and San Diego, according to local media. Immigration officials did not respond to an email asking if homeless shelters are being targeted as part of enforcement efforts. With more than than 72,300 unhoused people, Los Angeles County is the epicenter of the nation's homelessness crisis. How many of them are immigrants is unknown because the federally mandated annual count does not include citizenship questions. The encounter at the Hollywood shelter took place a few weeks before President Donald Trump ordered the National Guard and U.S. Marines to the region in response to large-scale protests against his deportation efforts. Service providers in Los Angeles said the stepped-up enforcement effort has made their work more difficult because their clients are consumed by fears of deportation. Donald Whitehead Jr., executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, said the aggressive operation 'puts a target' on the backs of homeless immigrants. 'It villainizes them,' he said. At another shelter, The People Concern in downtown Los Angeles, fewer clients are stopping by to use showers and other public facilities because they are afraid ICE agents will show up, said CEO John Maceri. He said even U.S. citizens at its permanent housing facility in the San Fernando Valley are hesitant to go outside because they are afraid they will be stopped and questioned by ICE. 'Frankly, anybody who's dark-skinned, Black and brown people, but particularly dark-skinned brown people, don't want to go out,' Maceri said. 'They don't want to go to the grocery store. A few of them are missing work. They're really scared. This fear factor is really taking effect.' The highest concentrations of ICE arrests in Los Angeles have occurred in the predominantly Latino neighborhoods of the San Fernando Valley, according to the nonprofit Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA. U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, who is from the San Fernando Valley and was himself handcuffed by federal agents last month at a news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said the numbers reflect a strategy by the Trump administration to target vulnerable communities, not just the violent criminals he promised to arrest during his campaign. 'This is an administration who proudly changed policy to pursue these enforcement actions in workplaces, in schools, including elementary schools, and houses of worship,' he said. 'If they were only focusing on dangerous, violent criminals, you're not going to find them at schools and churches and homeless camps.' A map released Tuesday by CHIRLA showed that 471 of the 2,800 arrests made by the Department of Homeland Security from June 6 to July 20 occurred in predominantly Latino neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley. It did not specify how many of the arrestees were homeless people. CHIRLA President Angelica Salas said the data highlighted 'racial profiling' by federal officials, who have denied targeting people based on their skin color. 'What makes someone a target of ICE is if they are illegally in the U.S. — NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity,' DHS said in a recent statement. On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order that encourages cities to remove homeless people from their streets. Whitehead said the order could trigger more arrests of homeless people and further heighten their fears. At the homeless shelter where the two Venezuelan men were arrested, residents remain on high alert, Lailanie said. Immigrants are now accompanied to work, errands and court appointments by staff in unmarked cars without the organization's logo. Officials at the shelter requested that its name not be used out of fear of retribution by the Trump administration. The Venezuelans, who are 20 and 22 years old, barely speak English and had been living at the shelter for a few weeks before they were arrested, she said. They had not been there long enough to be paired with immigration lawyers, she said. The 22-year-old was deported, and employees have been unable to locate the younger man, she said. Since the arrests, staff members have witnessed at least three immigration stakeouts around the facility, two shelter employees said. On one occasion, a uniformed officer asked to use a bathroom inside the center. A maintenance worker allowed him to enter because he didn't know what else to do, the two employees said. Staffers have also seen unmarked black SUVs parked near the center and in the parking lot. Most recently, an asylum-seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo who had been living at the shelter was arrested after reporting to immigration court, according to two people who work at the shelter. The employees said that before his arrest, he had difficulty applying for jobs because he wore an ankle monitor, which was given to him when he presented himself to immigration officials. Confused, he went to immigration court and asked officials to remove the monitor, the two employees said, but he was arrested instead. He was taken to the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto, California, while his lawyer pleaded his asylum case, which is still pending, according to Lailanie. He fears being returned to central Africa, where his father was killed, she said. 'People are scared and people are hurting, but people are also compelled to continue to do the work and do the right thing and try to fight for the right thing,' she said.
