PLANO - On March 1, Anna Fermanova was on a plane at JFK International Airport bound for Russia, and allegedly carrying night-rifle scopes in her luggage.
While the 24-year-old Richardson High School graduate was allowed to travel to Russia and the three rifles confiscated, she was arrested on July 15 when she returned to the United States.
Now, the Plano woman is defending herself against the federal charges that put her in the national spotlight.
Fermanova's attorney, Scott Palmer, said he has more proof his client was taking the rifle scopes to Russia for friends who are hunters, not for spying purposes.
"My client knows more about Victoria's Secret than being a Russian spy," Palmer said.
Fermanova has maintained she was taking the rifles to Russia to friends who are hunters. Palmer told WFAA that Fermanova's father-in-law passed away a week before she was caught with the scopes. He said he can prove he worked as a gun instructor for a hunting club and Fermanova was taking the scopes so they could sold to his friends.
"They would have and they knew she lived in the U.S. part of the time," Palmer said. "And they literally asked her for her friends to pick up some of these scopes because they are a lot cheaper in the United States, and she did and bought them with the father's money and sold them to these people at the gun range."
But, there's also new information on SmokingGun.com that federal prosecutors are looking into deposits of just under $10,000 into Fermanova's bank account. They also said her husband was deported to Russia for fraud and identity theft convictions. They claim the information comes from recordings during her detention hearing.
Palmer said he can't confirm why Fermanova's husband was deported.
E-mail: rlopez@wfaa.com
