Mexican national accused of aiding Russian intelligence in US pleads guilty

A Mexican man accused of aiding Russian intelligence in the U.S. on Tuesday pleaded guilty to acting within the United States on behalf of a foreign government without notifying the attorney general.

Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, 36, was a resident of Singapore at the time of conviction.

Fuentes, who has “spent significant time in Russia,” was told by a Russian government official to follow a person who had provided intelligence about the Russian government to the U.S. government, according to the Department of Justice.

Fuentes leased a unit in the same building as the person in Miami-Dade County, Fla., and traveled to Miami in 2020, where he took note of the parking location and license plate number of the person’s car.

Fuentes also obtained a close-up photo of the car and planned to share information about the car with a Russian official on a future trip to Russia.

“The manner in which Fuentes communicated with the Russian government official and his undertakings in this case are consistent with the tactics of the Russian intelligence services for spotting, assessing, recruiting and handling intelligence assets and sources,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

Fuentes was charged due to laws that require a person to disclose that they are an agent of a foreign government to the U.S. attorney general.

Fuentes will be sentenced in Miami on May 17 and could face up to 10 years in prison.

The case is being investigated by the FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thakur for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Matthew McKenzie of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.