Crime & Safety
Feds Drop Case Against Nassau Veteran, NYPD Officer Accused Of Spying
Prosecutors dismissed charges against Baimadajie Angwang, Army Reservist and veteran, accused of giving China intel on Tibetans in the US.
WILLISTON PARK, NY — A Nassau resident accused of spying for China had his federal indictment dismissed this week. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York's office filed a motion on Jan. 13 to dismiss the case, and on Thursday a federal judge approved the motion, court records show.
Baimadajie Angwang is a New York Police Department officer and a Marine Corps veteran who served in Afghanistan and currently lives in Williston Park. Prosecutors charged him with acting as an illegal agent to the People's Republic of China, accusing him of providing China information about Tibetans living in the U.S., and using his position in the NYPD to spy for China.
Angwang's attorney John Carman told Patch last week that a dismissal like this is "very rare."
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"He lost two-and-half years of his life. He was in solitary confinement for six months during COVID, as a NYPD police officer," Carman said.
Prosecutors said in 2020 that the ethnic Tibetan native Angwang began working under the control of PRC officials in New York in 2014, according to the indictment.
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"Angwang reported on the activities of Chinese citizens in the New York area, spotted and assessed potential intelligence sources within the Tibetan community in New York and elsewhere, and provided PRC officials with access to senior NYPD officials through invitations to official events," the complaint stated.
The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on the reason the case was dismissed.
Speculation that the charges were dropped because Angwang was in some way cooperating with federal prosecutors is unfounded, Carman said.
"He's not giving them information — he's never met with them."
The motion to dismiss the charges stated that prosecutors "obtained additional information" leading to a reassessment of the entire case, and prompting the request to dismiss the indictment without prejudice.
Angwang served in Bayside's 111th Precinct in the community affairs division, according to the federal complaint.
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