Posted on 11/15/2005 7:43:17 AM PST by ncountylee
NEW YORK (AP) -- Six U.S. Navy crew members looking for quick and profitable marriages to illegal aliens face federal charges after being among 10 people caught in an FBI sting operation targeting the sham unions, prosecutors said.
The six, assigned to the U.S.S. Eisenhower in Norfolk, Va., were nabbed after the FBI learned that a Baltimore man, Kenneth Adam Howard, 26, was recruiting men and women to enter sham marriages in New York, according to a complaint in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Howard, who was among those charged with conspiracy, offered to provide people to marry illegal aliens at a cost of $3,000 to $4,000 per marriage, the complaint said.
His lawyer, James M. Keneally, declined to comment Monday after U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael H. Dolinger set bail at $200,000.
The six Navy members and a former seaman who had been assigned to the U.S.S. Eisenhower came in recent weeks to New York, where they thought they were meeting illegal aliens from Egypt, Russia, South America and Europe, the complaint said.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
...love you long time.
$3,000 - $4,000?
Not very bright.
Aaargh! Ike is my alma mater!
$3,000 in.....$50,000 to get out
"I solemnly swear...against all enemies, foreign or domestic..."
A sham wife is YOUR 'domestic' enemy. That is your problem, though.
An illegal alien is the nation's enemy, both foreign in origin, and domestic in location.
To knowingly marry one, especially for money, could very well be an espionage (these days read "terrorism") risk.
At the very least, you are aiding and abetting the invasion, and most certainly do not belong in the service as a polluting influence.
Not a hanging or keelhauling offense; perhaps not even flogging around the fleet, but maybe about 30 lashes while tied to the mainmast would get the idea across.
"An illegal alien is the nation's enemy, both foreign in origin, and domestic in location. "
CONVINCE THE PRESIDENT ABOUT THIS!!!!
So ... you must be pretty well-fixed right now. Sounds like the sham marriage fees could beat re-enlistment bonuses -- for deck apes, anyway. (Of course, it's been a generation since I had to calculate a re-enlistment fee).
That damned ship is cursed. She's managed to never take part in any actual combat operations in her 27 years of service. Even during Desert Shield we spent two weeks boring holes in the Red Sea before heading home. We once got fogged in in the Gulf of Mexico when conducting carrier quals, so a little three-week underway period stretched to six weeks (the CMDMC referred to it as the "Gulf hostage crisis"). We hit a Spanish collier pulling into Norfolk after our 1988 Med cruise.
Someone must've died when building IKE.
Until our lawmakers start treating illegals as criminals, there is no sense in prosecuting american citizens for following the example set by the government.
Second, Until our lawmakers start treating illegals as criminals is a self contradiction. They did and do. Who do you think passed the laws defining illegals as illegal? It is the Executive Branch, headed by His Holiness GWB that is ignoring the problem, though some feel it blasphemous to say so.
Third, this involves fleet personnel, not some rube trying to chisel a few bucks on lawn mowing or pool cleaning; nor even a contractor pocketing some extra cash on a drywall job. Some cases are more important than others.
Finally, more than "simple" illegal immigration, it also involves an attemot to defraud the government, as to pay, allowances, benefits, etc.
Did some of these sham marriages blow up in court?
Thanks for the info. Maybe I was not clear enough. By blowing up in court, I meant exactly what you said. The man was forced to support her. I wonder if there were ever any of these women that had babies by another man, while they were in the sham marriage? I think the sham husband would end up paying child support for a child that was not his. What do you think?
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