Immigration Fraud: Delmar Dixon and Shakeisha Harrison Pleaded Guilty in a Conspiracy to Assist African Nationals in Circumventing Immigration Laws by Arranging Fraudulent Marriages

FraudsWatch.com
Delmar Dixon and Shakeisha Harrison Pleaded Guilty in a Conspiracy to Assist African Nationals in Circumventing Immigration Laws by Arranging Fraudulent Marriages

<h2>KC Man&comma; Woman Plead Guilty to Marriage Fraud Conspiracy<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>KANSAS CITY&comma; Mo&period; – Tammy Dickinson&comma; United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri&comma; announced that two Kansas City&comma; Mo&period;&comma; residents pleaded guilty in federal court today to their roles in a marriage fraud conspiracy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Delmar Dixon&comma; 49&comma; and Shakeisha Harrison&comma; 37&comma; both of Kansas City&comma; pleaded guilty before U&period;S&period; District Judge Gary A&period; Fenner to the charges contained in an Aug&period; 31&comma; 2016&comma; federal indictment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Dixon and Harrison each admitted that they participated in a conspiracy to assist African nationals in circumventing immigration laws by arranging fraudulent marriages&period; In addition to the conspiracy&comma; Dixon pleaded guilty to falsely swearing in an immigration matter&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Co-defendant Traci R&period; Porter&comma; 44&comma; of Kansas City&comma; pleaded guilty on Jan&period; 19&comma; 2017&comma; to her role in the marriage fraud conspiracy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>By pleading guilty today&comma; Dixon admitted that he arranged 30 to 40 fraudulent marriages&comma; including his own&period; Dixon charged the African nationals &dollar;1&comma;000 upfront for his services&comma; which included providing them U&period;S&period; citizen spouses&period; The African nationals were additionally required to pay &dollar;500 to the spouse at the time of the wedding&comma; and an additional &dollar;500 immediately after completion of the wedding&period; They were required to pay their spouses &dollar;250 each month after the weddings until the immigration process was complete&period; The African nationals were coached by Dixon on how to make their marriages appear legitimate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition to arranging fraudulent marriages&comma; Dixon engaged in a fraudulent marriage himself&period; Dixon obtained a marriage license on March 19&comma; 2008&comma; and married a Kenyan national who had entered the United States as a B2 nonimmigrant visitor but overstayed her visa&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Harrison admitted that she entered into a fraudulent marriage arranged by Dixon&period; Her spouse&comma; a Tanzanian national&comma; entered the United States as an F1 nonimmigrant student to attend Park University&period; The two were married on Feb&period; 12&comma; 2010&comma; and Harrison filed for permanent resident status for her spouse on Aug&period; 12&comma; 2014&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Porter admitted that she was involved in the marriage fraud scheme through her own marriage and her involvement in other fraudulent marriages&period; In June 2008&comma; Porter married a Kenyan national who had entered the United States as a B2 visitor&period; He was granted conditional lawful permanent resident status&semi; Porter also filed petitions for an alien relative for her step-daughter and step-son&period; However&comma; the U&period;S&period; Embassy in Nairobi denied the children immigrant visas because Porter and her spouse failed to establish they had a bona fide ongoing marriage&comma; and there was a suspicion &lpar;later confirmed&rpar; that he was not legally divorced from a prior marriage&period; To remedy this&comma; Porter filed for divorce and her spouse divorced his wife in Kenya&comma; then they remarried and he was granted permanent resident status&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Immigration and Customs Enforcement&&num;8217&semi;s &lpar;ICE&rpar; Homeland Security Investigations &lpar;HSI&rpar; agents utilized a confidential informant and an undercover agent in their investigation&period; The CI successfully arranged a meeting with Dixon&comma; paid the required fees&comma; and married the spouse provided to him by Dixon in a pretend ceremony staged by HSI&period; &lpar;Because the marriage was staged by HSI&comma; it is not legally valid&period;&rpar; The confidential informant continued to pay the &dollar;250 monthly fee for the fraudulent purported marriage&period; In late December 2015&comma; HSI initiated the operation involving the undercover agent&period; The agent met with Dixon &lpar;who introduced the agent to his intended spouse&rpar; and made a payment to Dixon&period; Dixon also offered the undercover agent &dollar;300 for each new client he referred&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Under federal statutes&comma; Dixon is subject to a sentence of up to 15 years in federal prison without parole&period; Harrison and Porter are each subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole&period; The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes&comma; as the sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors&period; Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney Kim Moore&period; It was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement&&num;8217&semi;s &lpar;ICE&rpar; Homeland Security Investigations &lpar;HSI&rpar; and U&period;S&period; Citizenship and Immigration Services&comma; Fraud Detection and National Security&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-wdmo&sol;pr&sol;kc-man-woman-plead-guilty-marriage-fraud-conspiracy">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

Share This Article
Follow:
FraudsWatch is а site reporting on fraud and scammers on internet, in financial services and personal. Providing a daily news service publishes articles contributed by experts; is widely reported in thе latest compliance requirements, and offers very broad coverage of thе latest online theft cases, pending investigations and threats of fraud.
Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Exit mobile version