Federal prosecutors charge six, five of them from Fall River, in marriage fraud ring

FALL RIVER Federal prosecutors in Boston charged six people Wednesday with taking part in a marriage fraud ring based in Fall River that arranged sham marriages so that people living in the country illegally could fraudulently obtain immigration status. Five of the six live in Fall River and one in Attleboro, the U.S. Attorney's office said in a release.

Each of the six is charged with conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens, harboring illegal aliens, conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and marriage fraud, according to the release. Those charged are Jennifer Gonzalez, 43, Erica Daniels, 29, Chreise Alejandro, 39, Amara Pugh, 31, and Jaylin Hill, 26, all of Fall River, and Jessica Tavares, 31, of Attleboro.

According to court documents described in the release, Gonzalez ran a business in which customers living in the country illegally paid her to arrange sham marriages. She in turn paid Daniels, Alejandro, Tavares and Hill, all U.S. citizens, to marry those customers so they could submit fraudulent documents to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for legal immigration status. Pugh, also a U.S. citizen, worked as the business's secretary, prosecutors said.

The operation averaged about 18 to 20 sham marriages a year for at least 10 years, typically charging $38,000 to $40,000 per marriage, and Gonzalez earned hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, prosecutors said. They said she coached customers on how to make a marriage look legitimate, including setting up life insurance policies and joint bank accounts and taking selfie-style pictures as a couple, told them it would take three to four months to prepare enough documentation to apply for immigration status, and required signed contracts for her services. Customers commonly made ongoing $500 monthly payments to their assigned spouse or someone close to the spouse, prosecutors said.

Gonzalez was captured on video and audio recordings during the investigation directing the printing and signing of a disguised loan contract and accepting a $3,000 cash down payment for arranging a sham marriage, prosecutors said. She told the customer the contract intentionally avoided mentioning the spouse because doing so would be incriminating, and said she designed the documents to conceal the fraudulent purpose, according to the release. In the recordings she also said she invested her earnings in businesses and real estate in the Dominican Republic, prosecutors said.

Multiple defendants also lied on Massachusetts applications for SNAP benefits by falsely claiming they had never been married, even while filing federal immigration petitions on behalf of their sham spouses, prosecutors said. Gonzalez spent more than $120,000 in SNAP benefits she received while running the ring and buying property in the Dominican Republic, according to the release.

Gonzalez, Daniels, Alejandro, Pugh and Tavares were arrested Wednesday morning. Hill is serving a state prison sentence for a firearms offense. Initial appearances in federal court in Boston were scheduled Wednesday: Hill at 12:45 p.m., Daniels and Pugh at 2 p.m., Alejandro and Tavares at 2:45 p.m. and Gonzalez at 3:15 p.m. Daniels and Pugh waived a probable cause hearing, and Tavares and Alejandro have one scheduled for Oct. 29 at 12:45 p.m. Gonzalez was held, with a detention and probable cause hearing set for Oct. 29 at 12:30 p.m.

The harboring charges and the conspiracy to commit them each carry up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. The marriage fraud charges and the conspiracy to commit them each carry up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. A federal district court judge sets any sentence under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the statutes that govern sentencing.

U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley, Homeland Security Investigations New England acting Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Grimming and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Northeast Regional Chief Shawn Saucier announced the charges. The Department of Labor, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector general offices and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's Boston division assisted. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Crowley and Kaitlin J. Brown of the Organized Crime and Gang Unit are prosecuting.

Prosecutors said the investigation is ongoing. The release names no defense lawyer for any of the six; South Coast 360 has asked the U.S. Attorney's office for the lawyers' names. The six are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.