Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov was in federal custody after immigration agents detained him upon his release from jail in Seal Beach, where he had served part of a 90-day spousal abuse sentence.
"The individual came into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody Sept. 2 following his release by local authorities," according to an ICE statement. "He will remain in ICE custody pending a hearing before an immigration judge. Mr. Voynov entered the U.S. in 2013 on a temporary visa for internationally recognized athletes."
No bond was set by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations "given his prior conviction for a crime of violence," according to the agency.
A Kings official declined to comment.
The 25-year-old Voynov, who is from Russia, had pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of corporal injury to a spouse stemming from an October fight with his wife that led to his suspension by the National Hockey League.
Superior Court Judge Eric C. Taylor sentenced Voynov to 90 days in jail, a yearlong domestic violence course, eight hours of community service and three years of probation. Voynov had served about half of his 90-day sentence when he was released, according to the Daily News, which reported that Voynov opted to pay $100 per day to serve his time in the Seal Beach jail instead of a free stay at a Los Angeles County jail, the newspaper reported.
Voynov was charged in November with a felony count of corporal injury to a spouse with an allegation of great bodily injury. Prosecutors amended the criminal complaint to add the misdemeanor charge, and the felony count and great bodily injury allegation were dismissed as a result of his plea.
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Voynov was suspended indefinitely by the NHL after his Oct. 20 arrest by Redondo Beach police. At a hearing last December in which Voynov was ordered to stand trial, Redondo Beach police Officer Gregory Wiist testified that Voynov's wife Marta Varlamova told him that she had been involved in an altercation with her husband.
Wiist -- who said he spoke to Voynov's wife at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance where she was being treated for a laceration above her left eye -- testified that the woman told him that she and her husband began arguing while attending a Halloween party the night of Oct. 19, and that Voynov punched her in the face when they went outside.
The officer testified that Varlamova said the argument continued when the couple got back to their Redondo Beach home, and that Voynov threw her to the ground multiple times, repeatedly kicked her and choked her three times. She also said her husband pushed her into a flat-screen television on the wall, and her face struck the corner of it, Wiist testified. The injury to Varlamova's eye required eight stitches, Wiist testified.
The police officer acknowledged he did not seek his department's help in trying to get a Russian interpreter for Varlamova, and testified that he was not aware of Varlamova's subsequent account that what had happened was an accident.
