LOS ANGELES : 4 Indicted in Alleged Bribery of INS Agent

Four people were indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on charges of conspiring to bribe an Immigration and Naturalization Service agent to gain favors on a variety of immigration matters involving associates and employees of a Carson-area shipping warehouse.

The 13-count indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges that the agent was asked to arrest immigrants who filed workers’ compensation claims against the warehouse and to give visas to two Vietnamese nationals.

Named as defendants were an Orange County couple, Steve Moallem, 47, and his wife, Gayle Mullen, 34, who own Nationwide Distribution Services, a warehouse in Rancho Dominguez where the U.S. Customs Service conducts examinations of cargo containers imported into the United States.

An attorney for Moallem denied the charges Wednesday and accused federal agents of entrapping his client.

Also named as defendants were Laguna Beach resident Naftali Grossman, 32, identified by prosecutors as a British citizen who is Moallem’s cousin, and Armando Lising, 41, who lives in Paramount but is a citizen of the Philippines. Federal officials said Lising was the warehouse office manager.