Man bound for Medellin arrested at Medellin airport with nude photos of young Colombian woman, federal authorities say

MIAMI – Federal authorities say a Georgian man flying from Miami International Airport to Colombia was caught with nude photos of himself with a teenage girl from that country; court documents show he admitted to visiting the country nearly a dozen times in less than two years.

Hamzeh Anasweh, a Jordanian-American citizen, appeared in federal court in Miami on Monday on charges of transporting and possessing child pornography. Homeland Security Investigations agents took him into custody on Friday, according to a criminal complaint.

Authorities said Anasweh, 57, was traveling alone and had arrived from Atlanta the night before. The complaint says that on Friday morning, HSI and Customs and Border Protection agents stopped him at the gate as he prepared to board his Avianca flight to Medellin.

They conducted a search at the border and discovered four cell phones. According to the complaint, one of the phones contained a hidden folder containing “multiple images of naked young women,” including five photos of a Colombian identified as “JS.”

“JS” was 17 when the photos were taken on Oct. 9, 2023, and three of the photos showed her nude with Anasweh, agents said.

The search also revealed a chat exchange between Anasweh and the girl, during which she asked him for money for school, requesting that the money be sent to her sister’s account, authorities said. The complaint said Anasweh said he “already had[his]mother in the system and would send the money to that account instead.”

The search also revealed that “JS” sent Anasweh a photo of her ID in January, showing that she was 17, according to the complaint. Authorities say Anasweh commented that she “looked like a baby in the photo.”

Officers also searched Anasweh’s luggage and found “an unopened, unwrapped pink vape pen and five unopened, wrapped bottles of perfume, including two Disney Princess brand bottles,” court documents state.

In an interview, Anasweh admitted to having sex with the girl when she was 17, but said he believed she was an adult and claimed the photos in his phone gallery depicted adults, authorities said.

“He indicated that he frequently asked for and photographed the young women’s identification cards to ensure they were of legal age,” the complaint states.

After being questioned about whether he paid “JS” for sex, Anasweh told officers that “nothing was free” and that he “took care” of the girls and they “took care” of him, officers wrote.

Authorities said Anasweh admitted to traveling to Colombia 13 times since 2019; 11 of those trips occurred after August 2022.

Anasweh’s case has parallels with that of Stefan Andres Correa.

In April, agents arrested Correa, a 42-year-old pharmacist from Miami, on charges he paid for sex with children in Colombia, a country described as a hub for child sex tourism.

Like Anasweh, Correa was arrested after trying to board a flight to the South American nation. U.S. and Colombian authorities have said they are cracking down on child trafficking in the country.

Anasweh was booked into the Broward County Jail after being taken into custody, but he was later taken to the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami, where he was being held Tuesday morning, according to online records.