Shawn “Sheiky” Sheikhan Facing Deportation
Shawn Sheikhan is facing potential deportation charges over a 1995 conviction on charges of sexual battery and annoyance or molestation of a child.
Immigration officials arrested Sheikhan at his Las Vegas home on Aug. 30, according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.
He was held for more than a week at the North Las Vegas Detention Center before being released on a $10,000 bond.
“This individual was targeted for ICE arrest because of his criminal history,” Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an e-mail message Wednesday. “ICE has an ongoing initiative called Operation Predator targeting individuals, including foreign nationals, who prey upon and sexually exploit children.”
Kice said immigration officials believe Sheikhan’s conviction is “a deportable offense, but ultimately it will be up to an immigration judge to make that determination.”
“We want to see him removed from the United States,” she said later Wednesday.
Shawn Sheikhan has been featured on many poker shows, including High Stakes Poker, and Poker After Dark. Sheikhan has also played in many live and is best known for the moment when him and Mike Matusow got into a war of words at the table. As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,200,000.
Sheikhan owns six local Diversity shops that sell tattoos, piercings, clothing and other items.
He was born in Iran but came to the United States when he was 9, according to court documents.
He has been a legal permanent U.S. resident since 1983, is married to a U.S. citizen and has a 9-year-old daughter.
Sheikhan and his wife own a home in the Canyon Gate Country Club, near Sahara Avenue and Durango Drive, according to Clark County Assessor’s records.
Court documents indicate that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security believes Sheikhan is “subject to removal from the United States” in part based on a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that allows deportation for conviction “of two crimes involving moral turpitude not arising out of a single scheme of criminal misconduct.”
This is also not the only other time Sheikhan has been involved with the law. In 1999 his car lost control during a torrential rainstorm and killed a passenger in another car.
Mike Matusow shawn skeikhan
