An Iranian national and his wife have been indicted on charges connected to shooting threats against ICE officers at a home in Tempe, authorities said Wednesday.

A federal grand jury in Phoenix returned the indictment June 24 against Mehrzad Asadi Eidivand, 40, of Tempe on an alien in possession of a firearm charge, and Linet Vartanniavartanians, 37, a U.S. citizen also from Tempe, for threatening to assault a federal officer.

Documents filed in the case allege Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers went to the couple’s Tempe home on June 21 “to administratively arrest Eidivand for failing to comply with a 2013 removal order.”

Eidivand had challenged the removal order on several occasions, but the Board of Immigration Appeals denied the motions, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Despite the court order to return to his home country, Eidivand remained in the United States for more than a decade.

When ICE officers arrived at the couple’s home, “they announced themselves and were answered by Vartanniavartanians, who refused to open the door and told the officers to return with a warrant,” the release stated.

Tempe police officers arrived a short time later and told ICE officers that Vartanniavartanians had called them and threatened to shoot the federal officers, authorities said, claiming “she had a loaded gun and that she would shoot anyone who tried to come inside the house.

“She also threatened to go outside and shoot ICE officers in the head. When the police dispatcher spoke with Eidivand, he confirmed that there were guns in the home.”

The next day agents from Homeland Security Investigations and officers from ICE executed a federal search warrant on the home where agents found a loaded firearm on the kitchen counter and a second loaded firearm on a nightstand. Both Vartanniavartanians and Eidivand were arrested and taken into custody without further incident, authorities said.

A conviction for alien in possession of a firearm carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, or both. A conviction for threatening to assault a federal officer carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, or both.

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