A top Homeland Security official for the Northeast has been indicted on a charge that she encouraged her housekeeper, whom she knew to be an illegal immigrant, to stay in the U.S.
Lorraine Henderson, the Boston area port director for Homeland Security, Customs, and Border Protection, was responsible for international ports in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. She was suspended in December and indicted Tuesday.
Prosecutors say she continued to employ a Brazilian housekeeper, and encouraged her not to leave, after a fellow agent warned her in 2006 about the woman's status.
The charge carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
Henderson's attorney, Francis DiMento, did not respond to a message left after business hours.