People v. Abdelsalam


Filed 1/6/22 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION EIGHT THE PEOPLE, B307375 Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. KA115170) v. MOHAMMED ABDELSALAM, Defendant and Appellant. APPEAL from and an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Rogelio G. Delgado, Judge. Affirmed. Katharine Eileen Greenebaum, under appointment by the Court of Appeal for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Paul M. Roadarmel, Jr. and Steven D. Matthews, Supervising Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. _________________________________ Appellant Mohammed Abdelsalam pled guilty to making criminal threats and stipulated to a local custody commitment. The trial court orally told appellant that, as a result of the conviction, he would be deported. He was also advised in writing that he would be deported. His attorney reviewed the immigration consequences of the plea with appellant. Appellant orally acknowledged that he understood the immigration consequences of his plea, and stated that he would “wait for immigration.” Now that deportation proceedings have, as predicted, been initiated, appellant claims he never understood that he would be deported and should therefore be allowed to withdraw his plea. The trial court denied the motion to withdraw the plea, finding it unsupported by the record. We affirm. FACTUAL BACKGROUND In 2017, appellant came to the United States on a fiancé visa. His fiancée, Mona, did not know that appellant planned to divorce her once he gained citizenship through the marriage. Mona discovered a record of appellant’s plan on his phone, as well as evidence of appellant’s relationships with other women. A message on appellant’s phone said in part, “[l]et me just get ahold of the marriage certificate, as soon as I become legal, I can divorce her and she can go F herself.” Mona broke off their relationship and pending marriage, reported appellant’s conduct to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fraud tip line, and notified the police. When Mona confronted appellant with what she learned, appellant was upset and fought physically with her over his phone, which she kept because it contained evidence of appellant’s intended fraud. Appellant injured Mona, and she filed for and received a temporary restraining order that was served on appellant. Appellant violated the restraining 1 order, burglarized Mona’s house, threatened her, and assaulted Mona at her office after hiding in the trunk of her car with a knife. Appellant was charged in a five-count information with injuring a cohabitant, receiving stolen property, two counts of disobeying a domestic relations court order, and making criminal threats. If convicted on all charges, appellant faced up to 10 years in state prison. At the preliminary hearing, appellant heard Mona testify that when she reported appellant’s attempted fraud to ICE, she asked ICE to deport him. Appellant also heard her testify that she met with two ICE agents and they told her, “Mona, we’re interested in this man. …

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