Héctor Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, a renowned Mexican scientist based in Miami, Florida, has been sentenced in the United States to four years in prison for spying for Russia.
“I am deeply sorry for my actions and I apologize to the United States,” Cabrera said in English before a federal court in Florida.
Cabrera pleaded guilty in mid-February to a criminal charge of being recruited by Russian agents to monitor a Miami-based US government informant.
Héctor Alejandro Cabrera FuentesTwitter via Milenio
Cabrera was detained in 2020 at the Miami airport as he and his Mexican wife were returning home to Mexico City.
The man, originally from El Espinal, Oaxaca, also led a double personal life.
In Mexico he was married to a Mexican woman with whom he lived in the capital.
And in the United States, at the same time, he was married to a Russian woman with whom he lived in Miami.
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Court documents indicate that Russian officials recruited him in 2019 to serve as their informant.
His unusual story began when his Russian wife and two daughters traveled from Germany to Russia to take care of a paperwork.
When the woman tried to return to Germany she was not allowed to leave her, an FBI agent said in the affidavit accompanying the indictment.
Cabrera then traveled to Russia to see his family and was allegedly contacted by a Russian official whom he had known for years for professional reasons.
The individual, who has not been identified in the documents, advised Cabrera that his family should not travel to Europe or apply for a US visa.
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That's when
Cabrera began to believe the individual was working for the Russian intelligence agency FSB
, according to the FBI.
In a subsequent meeting in Moscow, that officer presented old emails from Cabrera's account in which the scientist appeared to be looking for real estate in Miami.
The Russian official mentioned Cabrera's family situation and told him,
"We can help each other
," according to the indictment.
At the direction of the official, Cabrera traveled to Miami and, using the name of an associate, rented an apartment in the same complex where the US government source lived.
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It's not clear if the Mexican biochemist knew why the Russians wanted him to rent the apartment, but intelligence agents often seek to isolate themselves by enlisting others to do tasks.
Rarely does the recruit have full knowledge of the mission.
The person Cabrera was following is not named in court documents and is only described as a "confidential source" in the government who had provided information about Russian intelligence activities affecting US national security interests.