SEAMUS CULLETON, THE Irish man who is being detained by immigration officials in the United States, had a number of charges against him before he left Ireland in 2009, The Journal has confirmed. 

Culleton was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in early September when police checked the licence plate on his car outside a hardware shop in Massachusetts. He was in the process of attaining a green card. 

He is currently being held in an ICE detention facility in El Paso, Texas. 

The Journal has established, via multiple sources familiar with his interactions with gardaí, that Culleton had a number of interactions with the justice system in Ireland before he moved to the US. 

One incident involved the alleged possession for sale or supply of MDMA (ecstasy) and an attempt to get rid of the drugs when being searched by gardaí in 2008. 

Culleton was charged with obstruction but did not appear in court and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest in April 2009, after he had moved to the US.

The incident was alleged to have happened in Ballyverneen, Glenmore, Co Kilkenny.

On another occasion, Culleton was arrested for his own safety while drunk in Glenmore in 2007.

Separately, another bench warrant was issued for Culleton’s arrest after he failed to appear in court when facing criminal damage charges in September 2007.

Speaking during a press conference yesterday, Culleton’s lawyer, Ogor Winnie Okoye, who is representing him in his fight to be released from detention, said she had not heard about her client’s charges until this week. 

“This is the first time that we’re hearing about that,” Okoye said yesterday. “I can’t speak to a warrant.

“Mr Culleton will not be aware of any warrant that happened after he came to the United States.

“A warrant is not a conviction, a warrant is not a criminal entry, so I will leave it at that until I understand the specific facts of the case.”

Okoye was contacted by The Journal again today and asked for comment.