FBI arrests 7 USS Eisenhower sailors in sham to marry immigrants for benefits
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From: Waspscpo@aol.com
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Subject: Matrimony for money

 Matrimony for money
FBI arrests 7 USS  Eisenhower sailors in sham to marry immigrants for benefits

 By William H. McMichael
 NavyTimes staff writer
November 28, 2005

 Seven sailors from the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of them a deserter, were arrested and charged Nov. 14 along with three other people for conspiring to profit from entering sham marriages with illegal immigrants, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York announced.

All 10, according to the federal complaint unsealed Nov. 14 in Manhattan, “willfully, and knowingly” conspired to enter into fraudulent marriages for the purpose of enabling the improper entry of an immigrant into the United States.

All were nabbed during an FBI sting investigation that employed “cooperating witnesses” and undercover agents. Some of the evidence was recorded or videotaped. The sailors and their civilian co-defendants will be tried in federal court.

Each faces a maximum sentence of five years in jail and a $250,000 fine. The sailors were identified by the FBI and Navy as

The current sailors have been released to the custody of the Navy, FBI spokesman Matthew Bertron said.

In addition to the immediate promise of cash for entering the sham marriages, at least one sailor said she planned to exploit the scheme for more illegal benefits.

After obtaining a marriage license in Queens in mid-October and being paid $1,500, a portion of the promised total, Walker allegedly told a witness that she would use the marriage documents to apply for “increased financial benefits.” Presumably, that would be basic allowance for housing, or BAH, and a cost-of-living adjustment.

Young sailors, E-4 and below, generally are not allowed to draw BAH unless they are married or have documented dependents. A married E-4 in the Norfolk, Va., area would draw a monthly housing allowance of $1,031. None of the sailors actually got married, the FBI said.

It’s not the first time sailors have been caught in such a scheme. In August 2004, six sailors assigned to the San Diego-based dock landing ship Germantown were charged with using sham marriages or false Mexican marriage certificates to obtain more than $122,000 in housing allowance payments.

According to the recent federal complaint, Kenneth Adam Howard, 26, of Baltimore was the key player. Howard arranged the January 2004 marriage of Siham Boutachali, 29, a citizen of Morocco and illegal immigrant, to a truck driver from Virginia so the woman could apply for U.S. citizenship. Howard was originally contacted by Boutachali’s boyfriend, who had been arrested by the FBI on fraud charges several months before.

Howard, working with someone he thought had an “immigration business” but was actually a cooperating government witness who’d already pleaded guilty to identification document fraud and other offenses, later contacted the sailors. The 11-page complaint does not explain how Howard made contact or communicated with the Eisenhower sailor, or the circumstances under which they were able to get away from Norfolk, arrive in New York and pursue the scheme. Bertron said he could not elaborate, saying the investigation “is continuing.”

The complaint also provides no information about what occurred between January 2004, when Howard arranged Boutachali’s sham marriage, and September 2005, just before the sailors’ alleged involvement began. But it is rich with detail on the sailors’ activities while in New York and actively engaged in the scheme.

The deals go down

On or about Sept. 12, 2005, the cooperating government witness called Howard in Baltimore to “do some business.” The witness told Howard some people with money, some of whom were Russian, wanted to gain legal immigration status — as many as four of them per week. Howard said he’d make some calls. Six days later, the two met in New York to hammer out how much they would charge the “illegal immigrants” and pay the willing sailors and civilians.

They also figured out their own cut of the profits. Howard told the witness he had a 21-year-old woman available for a sham marriage at a cost of $3,000. The two decided that the witness would charge his client $6,000. Half would go to the woman, unidentified in the federal complaint, and the witness and Howard would split the other half — $1,500 apiece. A few days later, Howard called the witness to say he had two men and one woman available for sham marriages.

On Oct. 12, he arrived in the witness’s phony immigration business office in Brooklyn with sailors Usher and Walker. The witness wore a concealed recording device, and a hidden video camera filmed the meeting. Inside, Howard told the witness that his two clients were in the military and that there were “a lot more military people” who were willing to join the scheme.

The two sailors allegedly joined them. Usher asked how long he’d have to stay married before divorcing. The witness told him it would take eight months and Usher would not have to pay for it. When the witness asked for identification, Usher produced a Florida driver’s license while Walker handed over her Navy ID card, and copies were made, according to the complaint.

The next day, in a Brooklyn diner, Howard, Walker and Usher met the witness and an undercover FBI agent posing as the witness’s business partner, and the two sailors met their future spouses. One was a cooperating witness, posing as an illegal Egyptian immigrant who would marry Walker, the other an informant pretending to be an illegal Russian immigrant who would marry Usher.

On the subsequent drive to the Queens County clerk’s office to get a marriage license, Walker told the fake groom that she’d been in the Navy for the past four years and was stationed on the Eisenhower, the complaint stated. Walker told the man she needed his Social Security number so she could file for additional benefits from the Navy and she wanted to do so “as soon as possible,” according to the federal complaint.

They then obtained the marriage license. While waiting separately that day for Usher and his fake bride to get their license, the fake immigration business owner told Howard he had two more women who wanted to enter into sham marriages, and Howard said he could produce two more men in a week. Although Usher and his fake bride were unable to get a license that day, Usher was paid $250 while the fake businessman gave Walker about $1,500, according to the court papers. The following week, from Oct. 17 to 20, the Eisenhower underwent post-maintenance sea trials.

A four-year, $2.5 billion refueling and complex overhaul was completed at the Northrop Grumman shipyard in Newport News, Va., in March. On Oct. 24, the fake business owner met Howard, Jackson and Crawford in his fake Brooklyn office, according to the complaint. The same routine ensued with Burris, Brown and Murray on Nov. 8. On the morning of Nov. 14, several of the individuals charged and their sham spouses met on the Canarsie Pier in Brooklyn for casual photos that they could show to immigration officials while applying for legal status, Bertron said.

It was a ruse. Howard, Moore, Brown, Burris, Jackson, Murray and Boutachali were all arrested in New York. Usher, Crawford and Walker were arrested in Virginia the same day. While sham marriages to illegal immigrants for profit are against the law, authorities consider their potential for allowing potential terrorists to enter the country to be a great concern.

“We’ve learned from 9/11 that fraudulent document use is one of the weapons that the bad guys use,” said Brian Doyle, spokesman for U.S. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement. “Any kind of phony document that could aid and abet a potential terrorist is something we look at.”