Anna Fermanova

Fermanova who is now 24 years old, moved to Greensboro, NC with her family from Riga, Latvia as Jewish religious refugees in 1994. The family then moved to Baltimore for a year and eventually settled in Dallas area in 1998. In the US she was naturalized and became a US citizen. In 2004, Anna graduated from Richardson High School. Currently, she studies at the University of Phoenix and teaches English language to Russian students in Moscow.
On March 1, 2010, Fermanova was travelling from New York to Moscow but was stopped by the Customs and Border Protection because her luggage contained high tech vision goggles, allowed to be exported from the United States only with preapproval of the Department of State because they are considered weapons. The equipment was confiscated, by the Customs but she was allowed to continue her trip to Russia. While returning to US on July 15, 2010, Fermanova was apprehended by FBI at the JFK airport and charged with having "knowingly and intentionally" attempted to export "from the United States to Russia defense articles on the United States Munitions list". Fermanova denied all charges and called them "false allegations" although she admitted removing identifying markers from the scopes and blacking out serial numbers with a marker. According to the family lawyer, the goggles were intended for sale by her husband to hunters. The three US-made military goggles cost $4,000, $4,000 and $7,000, respectively. The $7,000 goggles are described as a Raptor 4X Night Vision Weapons Sight, considered a 3G night vision device that allows one to locate the target in low light, and are engineered to be attached to a rifle. Fermanova is currently out of prison on a $50,000 bail but was placed on a 24-hour home arrest. She is expected to leave her home in Plano, Texas for Brooklyn in July to face official charges in court. If convicted, Fermanova could face up to 10 years in prison.