BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A Baltimore attorney defending a man accused of rape is now out of jail after authorities say they caught him trying to bribe the victim and a witness in the case. 
 
 Christos Vasiliades faces a litany of charges, including obstruction of justice and witness intimidation. 
 
 “This is terrible. This is as bad as it gets. You’ve got an officer of the court, who is supposed to uphold the law, really attempting to induce a witness not to testify,” says Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh. 
 
 Vasiliades’ lawyer released the following statement: 
 
 “The State has the enormous burden of proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Unless and until the State proves each and every allegation to a near certitude, Mr. Vasiliades is innocent.” 
 
 The investigation into Vasiliades began back in April, when he is accused of contacting the victim his client, Mario Aguilar-Delossantoso, is accused of raping, along with a witness in the case. 
 
 During that meeting, he reportedly warned the victim and witness of the increased risk of deportation if they were to testify in court. He also offered to pay them is they didn’t show up to court and dropped the charges. 
 
 Frosh says the local attorney tried to take advantage of a climate of fear in Baltimore’s immigrant population. Many who are afraid to report crimes. 
 
 “We’ve heard rumblings that these kinds of actions go on, but we haven’t been able to prove it. In this case, we have a taped conversation,” Frosh says. 
 
 The victim contacted police, and agreed to wear a recording device when they met up with Vasiliades again. 
 
 They met with Vasiliades again on May 18, and during that meeting, he ordered everyone to keep their cell phones in the lobby, and didn’t allow them to bring phones into the office. 
 
 During that meeting, authorities say they caught Vasiliades on tape offering the victim and the witness $3,000 each if they didn’t show up to testify, and if the case got “thrown out.” 
 
 On the recording court documents say Vasiliades tells the victim’s husband “you know how things are with Trump’s laws now; someone goes to court, and boom, they get taken away.” 
 
 Vasiliades had a plan that on the court date, the victim and witness should wait outside the courthouse, with a man who would have the cash. When the case was “thrown out” after the didn’t appear to testify, Vasiliades would give the other man a thumbs up, and he would then give them the money. 
 
 He also reportedly told the victim and witness that instead of testifying, they should take the money, then “find [Aguilar-Delossantoso] and wear him out,” and “if we were back home where I’m from, from Greece… we would go **** him up, that’s it, if you want to do that, that’s fine.” 
 
 The indictment shows he also said, “$3,000, and then find him and kick his ass,” and, “I did my job, I did very good, and I can go home and go to sleep, OK, and then you get something, and then you find him outside, brother, and you **** him up, that’s it.” 
 
 He also reportedly reiterated the increased chance of deportation if they were to testify. 
 
 “Cases like this that really take us two steps backward are such a shame,” says Elizabeth Alex of CASA of Maryland. 
 
 Alex says the organization has spent years trying to eliminate fear and encourage immigrant victims to report crimes. 
 
 She hopes this isn’t a setback. 
 
 “There is such a big and supportive environment here in Baltimore for these victims when they do come out, but its about getting the message to them that it’s not your fault and there’s people here to help,” Casa says. 
 
 Frosh says if convicted, Vasiliades is facing a lot of jail time for most of the charges and could also lose his license to practice law. 
 
 Vasiliades pleaded not guilty to the charges. 
 
 Follow @CBSBaltimore on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook ||||| A Baltimore defense attorney was arraigned Wednesday on charges of obstruction of justice and witness intimidation for allegedly trying to dissuade a rape victim from testifying against his client by telling her she risked deportation by the Trump administration. 
 
 In a recorded conversation, Christos Vasiliades, 38, and another man charged in the case, Edgar Ivan Rodriguez, told the alleged victim's husband about the "current environment for immigrants in this country" and offered $3,000 cash if she did not show up to court, which would force prosecutors to drop the case, the indictment alleges. 
 
 "You know how things are with Trump's laws now; someone goes to court, and boom, they get taken away," Rodriguez told the victim's husband in the recorded conversation, according to an indictment by the Maryland attorney general's office. 
 
 Vasiliades also offered an alternative solution: Just beat up his client. 
 
 "If we were back home where I'm from, from Greece ... we would go (expletive) him up, that's it, if you want to do that, that's fine," Vasiliades was recorded saying, according to court documents. "He's an (expletive), I think you should find him and kick his (expletive), personally." 
 
 Vasiliades was arrested Tuesday afternoon in the hallway of the Courthouse East building, as the trial of his client, Mario Aguilar-Delosantos, was set to start, according to the sheriff's office and court records. 
 
 Vasiliades returned to that courthouse Wednesday afternoon — wearing a yellow jumpsuit and hands cuffed behind his back. Prosecutors agreed to release him and Rodriguez under pre-trial supervision. 
 
 Rodriguez, who identified himself as Vasiliades' interpreter, also was charged with obstruction of justice and witness intimidation, according to court records. 
 
 Both pleaded not guilty. 
 
 Billy Murphy, Vasiliades' attorney, and Joseph Murtha, Rodriguez's attorney, left the courthouse without commenting. 
 
 The charges against Aguilar-Delosantos come amid heightened concerns for immigrants as the Department of Justice steps up immigration enforcement. Arrests by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement were up 40 percent in the first 100 days of the Trump administration. 
 
 "If you're an immigrant, you live in a climate of fear at this point, and these folks were trying to capitalize on that," Attorney General Brian Frosh told The Baltimore Sun. 
 
 The Baltimore state's attorney's office issued a memo to prosecutors recently, advising them to consider the "potential consequences to the victim, witnesses, and the defendant" in minor, nonviolent crimes. 
 
 City prosecutors were handling the rape case, and asked the attorney general's office to get involved due to a possible conflict, Frosh said. 
 
 The state's attorney's office declined to comment on the case but said it "has and will continue to partner and combine our efforts with the attorney general's office, not only in protecting immigrant populations but also in the prosecution of these individuals." 
 
 Aguilar-Delosantos, of the unit block of South Broadway in Fells Point, is charged with second-degree rape, third- and fourth-degree sex offenses, and second-degree assault. The incident dates to March 25, 2016, and he has been free on $250,000 bond. 
 
 As a result of his attorney's arrest, his trial date has been pushed back to August. 
 
 The attorney general's office said in court papers that Rodriguez was present for and participated in the meetings in which Vasiliades attempted to dissuade the alleged victim and her husband from testifying in court. 
 
 The indictment alleges Vasiliades contacted the victim's husband in April and said the case "had become 'more complicated'" and that Vasiliades wanted to meet to discuss the case. 
 
 At that meeting, the victim's husband said Vasiliades and Rodriguez warned of the potential risk for the couple if they testified in court. They "explained that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would likely be present in the courtroom for their client … and cited new federal laws and policies and maintained there is a high risk that" they would be deported if they testified in court, according to the indictment. 
 
 Vasiliades said his client was "very sorry and could offer compensation if they did not come to court and testify against him." 
 
 "Vasiliades and Rodriguez indicated that the monetary compensation would help ensure that [they] would not get deported," the indictment says. 
 
 On May 15, the victim's husband placed a phone call to Vasiliades at the direction of law enforcement and said he wanted to meet to discuss the offer. They agreed to meet three days later, and the victim's husband wore a recording device provided by law enforcement. 
 
 Vasiliades made everyone place their cell phones on a desk in the lobby of the building where the meeting took place, then led them into an office, according to the indictment. Vasiliades and Rodriguez said ICE was "looking at this case" regarding their client, and cited recent immigration statistics. 
 
 "They're going to ask, 'You have your documents?'" Rodriguez was recorded saying, according to the indictment. 
 
 Vasilades offered to give the victim $3,000, the indictment alleges. He said Rodriguez would wait outside the courthouse holding the cash. Once the case was dropped, Vasiliades said he'd walk outside and give a thumbs up to Rodriguez, who would then deliver the cash, the indictment said. 
 
 Then Vasiliades suggested assaulting his client. "Find him and wear him out," he said, according to the indictment. 
 
 Vasiliades has been an attorney since 2011, working for Murtha's firm. In one of his online biographies, he was described as an "aggressive trial attorney dedicated to client service." 
 
 He is related to the Vasiliades family that owns the Sip & Bite diner in Canton. In 2015, then-Sip & Bite owner Anthony Vasiliades was arrested and pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Virginia after giving $50,000 cash to a government cooperator in exchange for two kilograms of cocaine. 
 
 Christos Vasiliades is currently listed as the resident agent for Sip & Bite. He formed his own law firm in 2015, based on South Haven Street, and also is listed as a founding partner of a title company called Olympus Title. 
 
 "Through his own personal motivation, [sic] stellar reputation Mr. Vasiliades acquainted himself with attorneys and judges throughout the Baltimore City, Baltimore County and other jurisdictions in Maryland," his web site reads. ||||| A Baltimore defense attorney was caught on tape telling a rape victim that she could be deported under President Donald Trump's immigration policies if she showed up in court to testify against his client, according to court documents filed Wednesday. 
 
 "You know how things are with Trump's laws now. Someone goes to court and, boom, they get taken away," Christos Vasiliades allegedly told the victim and her husband during a May 18 hearing. 
 
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 Instead of courtroom justice, he offered the couple $3,000, a second-hand apology and advice that they find the defendant and assault him, the indictment alleged. 
 
 The charges come amid a climate of fear in immigrant communities. Law enforcement and advocates across the country have expressed concern that the undocumented are not reporting crimes because they fear being deported under new policies. 
 
 Vasiliades — who boasts of a "stellar reputation" on his website — could not be reached for immediate comment on the allegation he used those policies to threatened a crime victim. He was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday afternoon. 
 
 He was representing Mario Aguilar-Delossantos in a rape case when he called the victim's husband in April and said things had become "complicated" and asked to meet. 
 
 That night, he and an associate serving as a Spanish interpreter sat down with the couple at a restaurant and warned them that immigration agents would be in the courtroom for their client and that they could be deported, too, prosecutors charged. 
 
 The couple reported the incident to law enforcement and authorities were listening in when the husband called Vasiliades a few weeks later and said he wanted to meet to talk more about the offer. 
 
 “ I think you should find him and kick his ass, personally.” 
 
 The next day, the group gathered again in an office, and this time the husband was wearing a wire when the attorney warned that his client would finger the victim as someone who is in the country illegally. 
 
 "My guy's going to be like, 'I'm here, but she is too!'" the lawyer said, according to the indictment. "They're going to ask, 'You have your documents?' Then everybody's f-----." 
 
 He said that on the trial date, the couple should wait outside the courthouse, where the attorney's associate, Edgar Rodriguez, would be holding the cash, authorities alleged. If the case was thrown out because the victim didn't show up, the lawyer would emerge and give a thumb's up so they could collect the money, the indictment said. 
 
 Vasiliades said that "back home" in Greece, the matter would have been handled with street justice. "I think you should find him and kick his ass, personally," the attorney allegedly told the husband. 
 
 He also cautioned the couple not to say anything about his proposal on the phone, and collected their cellphones during the meeting. However, he apparently failed to checked to see if they were wearing recording devices.
– A now-deleted website for Christos Vasiliades described him as an "aggressive" Baltimore attorney "dedicated to client service." Authorities say he's so dedicated, in fact, that he tried to bribe an alleged rape victim so she wouldn't testify against his client, suggested that she beat him up instead, and threatened her with deportation, reports the Baltimore Sun. Vasiliades, 38, was arrested in court Tuesday after the husband of the alleged victim told authorities about an offer he'd made the couple during an April meeting. During a second meeting on May 18, during which the victim's husband wore a wire, Vasiliades allegedly said his client was "very sorry" and would pay $3,000 if the couple failed to show up to his trial for assault, rape, and other sex offenses. Referring to his client, Vasiliades said that in his home country of Greece, "we would go [expletive] him up," according to an indictment. "I think you should find him and kick his ass, personally," he reportedly added, per NBC News. Vasiliades also told the couple there was a "high risk" they would be deported if they appeared in court because immigration officials would be present, authorities say. "You know how things are with Trump's laws now; someone goes to court, and boom, they get taken away," he allegedly said. "This is terrible. This is as bad as it gets," Maryland AG Brian Frosh tells CBS Baltimore, adding to the Sun that "if you're an immigrant, you live in a climate of fear at this point, and these folks were trying to capitalize on that." Vasiliades and his interpreter were arraigned Wednesday on charges of obstruction of justice and witness intimidation. Both pleaded not guilty.