Authorities say Stark man hid secret for 30 years; he's now accused of genocide in Rwanda

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday arrested a Stark County man, accusing him of rape and genocide in Rwanda in 1994, an event that left about 800,000 dead.

Eric Tabaro Nshimiye, also known as Eric Tabaro Nshimiyimana, faces various federal charges that include obstruction of justice and offering false testimony in the 2019 Boston trial of his former classmate and now-convicted Rwandan genocide perpetrator Jean Leonard Teganya. 

Nshimiye was being held in the Mahoning County Jail. He "did not admit to his identity" during an initial appearance Thursday in federal court, according to court records.

Identity, preliminary and detention hearings were scheduled for March 29 before Magistrate Judge Carmen E. Henderson at the U.S. District Courthouse in Youngstown. A public defender who was appointed to represent Nshimiye did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Nshimiye, 52, of Lake Township, was living a double life, insisting he was a victim during the genocide, according to federal prosecutors. They now say he was among the notorious perpetrators of crimes during the Rwanda genocide.

“For nearly 30 years, Mr. Nshimiye allegedly hid the truth about crimes he committed during the Rwandan genocide in order to seek refuge in the United States, and reap the benefits of U.S. citizenship," acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy in Boston said in a statement. "The United States will not be a safe haven for suspected human rights violators and war criminals.”

At Nshimiye's home on Billingham Avenue NW in Lake Township, which he and his wife bought in 2003, a man and woman answered the door Thursday evening and declined to answer questions. A reporter left contact information with them and sought to confirm they were family members of Nshimiye.

"Just leave the information and don't ask any more questions, please," the man said.

Community reacts to Eric Tabaro Nshimiye's arrest

Neighbors who live on his street expressed shock Thursday evening about the federal allegations of genocide, brutal killings and rape 30 years ago.

They described a man who invited his neighbors to his house for graduation parties for his sons. Their kids attended North Canton City Schools with Nshimye's two sons and two daughters.

The family served the neighbors African food. The neighborhood children played soccer in the Nshimiyes' yard. Nshimiye was known to mow the grass of his elderly next-door neighbors and help one of them in a wheelchair get onto the driveway from his porch.

"That is not the person I know," said a woman who met Nshimiye when she and her family moved into the neighborhood 12 years ago. "The person we know is a family man. He's not a violent person. Our children (who are friends of his children) have spent the night at his house. That's not the person I know."

"He'd be the last person I would expect to be arrested for something."

The woman, who declined to give her name, hopes the case is one of mistaken identity.

"I pray that's what happened," she said.

Tom Rice, 75, who lives next door to the Nshimiyes said Nshimiye mowed his grass and helped Rice in his wheelchair.

"He bent over backwards to help," he said. "I wish all neighbors were like him. ... I trust him before I trust a lot of other people on the street."

Another neighbor, whose daughter was friends with Nshimiye's daughters, said she went out for a run around 6 a.m. Thursday. She saw two dark unmarked SUVs parked across the street from Nishimiye's home. A Uniontown police car was parked just outside the allotment.

"They're a good family," said the woman, who also declined to give her name. "So I was surprised to see the cops there. ... I wouldn't think they were involved in anything."

Nshimiye also was a guest speaker for two classroom presentations in 2021 through MentorStark.

Founder Laurie Moline said he joined the Opportunity Club as a volunteer to share his perspective as a graduate of the University of Dayton, a principal electrical engineer and recruiter at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., and "also from his reported experience as being a Rwanda refugee."

"MentorStark condemns the acts reflected in the charges and, like everyone, will await the results of the Justice Department’s legal proceedings," Moline wrote in an email. "Our thoughts and concerns are with the victims still recovering from these atrocities."

Nshimiye spoke at Jackson High School, but Superintendent Chris DiLoreto said that was the extent of his time in the Jackson Local School District.

"He was never a mentor to Jackson Local students, nor was he ever alone with our students,” DiLoreto said in a prepared statement.

What is Eric Tabaro Nshimiye accused of?

According to court documents, Nshimiye's story unfolded like this:

He was a medical student at the University of Rwanda in Butare, Rwanda, in the early 1990s.

At that time, the country had significant ethnic division: About 85% of its population were Hutus, and about 14% were Tutsis.  

Nshimiye and his classmate Teganya were "well-known student members" of the ruling Hutu-dominated party that incited the genocide, the MRND political party, and the Interahamwe, the notoriously violent youth wing of that movement, court records said.

In the spring of 1994, after the Hutu president’s plane was shot down over Kigali, the country spiraled into one of the worst ethnic genocides in modern history. Members of the Hutu majority murdered about 800,000 Tutsis, including women and children during what court records described as "a 100-day frenzy."

"Tutsi students were killed at the University during the genocide in Butare," according to an affidavit filed in the case. "Because many Tutsis sought refuge on the Hospital grounds, and also sought care for their injuries there, the Hospital itself became the site of many atrocities.

"Tutsi patients were removed from the Hospital and then beaten or hacked to death. Hospital nurses and other staff who were Tutsi were also killed. Tutsi women were often raped before they were killed."

Court documents accuse Nshimiye of being part of the genocide, killing Tutsi men, women and children by striking them on the head with a nail-studded club and then hacking them to death with a machete.

Nshimiye is specifically accused of killing a 14-year-old boy and a man who sewed doctors' coats at the university hospital. Witnesses in Rwanda recently identified the locations of the killings and drew pictures of Nshimiye’s weapons, court documents said.

"Nshimiye both participated in and aided and abetted the rape of numerous Tutsi women during the genocide," court documents said.

Nshimiye is accused in court documents of being "among the most vicious University students who were members of the Interahamwe during the genocide."

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Nshimiye fled Rwanda and came to U.S.

Nshimiye fled Rwanda in the summer of 1994 after an attack by the Tutsi rebel group. Nshimiye made his way to Kenya where, in 1995, he is accused of lying to U.S. immigration officials to gain admission to the United States as a refugee, court documents said.

From there, Nshimiye landed in Ohio, where he has lived since 1995. During this time, he provided false information about his involvement in the Rwandan genocide to obtain lawful permanent residence and ultimately U.S. citizenship, court documents said.

According to his LinkedIn page, Nshimiye worked as an engineer at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Akron for 23 years. The company released the following statement: "Goodyear is deeply troubled to learn of the recent charges brought against one of our associates and is fully cooperating with authorities."

In 2017, U.S. federal officials charged Nshimiye's former classmate Teganya with fraudulently seeking asylum in the United States by concealing his membership in the MRND and his involvement in the genocide.

During Teganya's trial, Nshimiye testified that neither he nor Teganya participated in the genocide. Teganya was later convicted of two counts of immigration fraud and three counts of perjury in April 2019.

Federal officials later turned their focus to Nshimiye, who is accused of lying to federal agents who interviewed him about what he did before arriving in the U.S.

If convicted, Nshimiye could face up to 20 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. He will be tried in Boston, the DOJ said in its release.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice website, "Many individuals suspected of serious human rights violations such as torture, war crimes, recruitment or use of child soldiers, or genocide cannot be prosecuted for the violations due to legal limitations or insufficient admissible evidence. The prosecution of these individuals for other offenses and their subsequent removal from the United States, however, are often important government objectives."

Kelly Byer of The Canton Repository and Amanda Garrett from the Akron Beacon Journal contributed to this report.