"We want to see him removed from the United States," said Virginia Kice, spokesperson for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "ICE has an ongoing initiative called Operation Predator targeting individuals, including foreign nationals, who prey upon and sexually exploit children," she said in an earlier e-mail.
Shahram Sherikhan, Iranian born immigrant and professional poker player, was convicted in Contra Costa County, California in 1995 and served nine months in jail and five years probation on charges of sexual battery and annoyance or molestation of a child. He was arrested at his Las Vegas home August 30th where he lives with his US citizen wife and 9-year-old daughter. Sherikhan was held in the North Las Vegas Detention Center for more than a week before posting a $10,000 bond.
Las Vegas attorney and professional poker player, David Chesnoff, is representing Sheikhan in the deportation proceedings and said, "We're going to do everything in our power to prevent this." Chesnoff is the attorney that represented Bruce Crispin Leyser in Leyser's dispute with Jamie Gold over the $12 million prize Gold received for winning the 2006 WSOP Main Event. Chesnoff also indicated that he believed Sherikhan may have received inadequate council in the 1995 California conviction.
US Department of Homeland Security also favors deportation of Sherikhan based on his convictions according to court documents. The Immigration and Nationality Act allows for deportation of individuals convicted of "two crimes involving moral turpitude not arising out of a single scheme of criminal misconduct."
Sherikhan grabbed a part of the poker spotlight when he finished 11th at the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event at Binion's Horseshoe. He also played deep in the 2006 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship where he made the final four and $125,000. additional details are available from the Las Vegas Review Journal although they erroneously reported that Sherikhan made the final table at the 2005 WSOP Main Event.
Check out Dr. Pauly's Eyewitness Recap of that July day in 2005 when Sherikhan finished 11th and Mike Matusow went on to a seat at the final table of the Main Event.
