Samuel Saxon, the Cincinnati-based U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement leader accused of strangling a woman he lived with, now faces a federal charge in addition to state charges and has been transferred to the Butler County Jail, according to jail records.
Federal court records show Saxon has been charged with one count of making a false statement or representation to an agency or officer of the United States. It is not immediately clear what false statement Saxon is accused of making or which federal agency is involved.
He was booked into the Butler County Jail on Thursday, where ICE detainees in southwest Ohio are held under a contract with the federal government. The jail also houses federal prisoners under a separate agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service.
“This may be the first time an ICE agent is incarcerated in his own ICE jail,” said Lynn Tramonte, executive director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.
Saxon had been held in the Hamilton County Jail on a $400,000 bond following his arrest earlier this month but was released Thursday on a writ and transferred into federal custody without posting bond, jail officials previously told CityBeat.
The ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations supervisor is scheduled to appear Dec. 22 in Hamilton County Court on charges of felonious assault, strangulation and domestic violence.
Saxon, 47, was arrested Dec. 5 after police were called to a Corryville apartment, where he is accused of strangling a woman he lives with. Court records state officers observed visible bruising on the woman’s neck and that witness statements alleged Saxon placed her in a chokehold. Prosecutors said in court that police had responded to the apartment roughly 22 times in the previous year and a half. Saxon has pleaded not guilty to the state charges.
CityBeat has reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Homeland Security for additional information about the federal charge.