A former Orange County pharmacist prosecuted for sending money to Pakistan to help fund attacks against the U.S. military was deported Friday to her native Turkey after serving a term in prison.
Oytun Ayse Mihalik, 43, who had lived in the small northern Orange County town of La Palma, was turned over to authorities in Istanbul, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
Mihalik had permanent resident status in the U.S. when she pleaded guilty in August of 2012 to one count of providing material support to terrorists. She was sentenced to five years in federal prison in March 2013.
Federal prosecutors said the woman used the alias “Cindy Palmer” when she sent a total of $2,050 in three wire transfers to Pakistan at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011. She was arrested in August 2011 just as she was about to catch a flight to Turkey on a one-way ticket.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton, Mihalik apologized and blamed her misdeeds on marital issues as well as concern for her cancer- stricken mother.
“I know I did wrong,” Mihalik said in the letter to the judge. “Everything that I worked for — 16 years of crime-free honest living, all of my accomplishments and my dreams are swept away as a result of my actions during a very emotionally disturbed period.
“I’m facing very harsh consequences such as losing my residency, my three pharmacy state licenses that I worked very hard to get, the opportunity to raise my children in this country and contributing to the community through my hard work as a pharmacist at CVS,” the letter stated.
Mihalik went on to write, “I love the United States of America and consider it my home country since this country allowed me to achieve all of my career and personal goals, widened my perspective in life to appreciate freedom, equality, liberty … I realize my American dream has been ruined.”
Mihalik came to the United States in July 2006 on a work visa. She became a permanent resident in January 2011. She was taken into custody by immigration officials when she was released from prison Jan. 5.
— City News Service