Feds: Va. couple conspired with DHS officer to get fake documents


By: Emily Babay
March 20, 2011

A Herndon husband and wife are accused of running an immigration fraud ring that helped illegal immigrants get citizenship documents by paying bribes to a corrupt Department of Homeland Security supervisor.

Kuang Hao Chou, who also goes by Edwin, and his wife, Ling Yu Hsieh, who goes by Erica, are accused of getting fraudulent documents for themselves and others. The couple used their fake immigration credentials to obtain jobs and security clearances as Department of State contract employees, court documents say.

Chou and Hsieh were indicted in federal court in Alexandria on six counts -- conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, bribery of a public official, fraud and misuse of immigration documents, unlawful procurement of citizenship, computer fraud, and making a false statement in a security clearance application.

No lawyers were listed for the couple in court records, and a working phone number could not be located. Warrants have been issued for their arrests.

The indictment says their partner in the scheme was Robert Schofield, a DHS supervisor in the Citizenship and Immigration Services division. Schofield was charged in 2006 with accepting bribes to falsify immigration documents that allowed illegal aliens to become U.S. citizens. He pleaded guilty later that year and is serving a 15-year prison sentence.

The indictment says Chou came to the United States from Taiwan in August 1996 and Hsieh arrived in April 1998. The couple married in 1991 and lived in Herndon starting in 2001.

In August 1996, Chou received an employment authorization document -- also known as a work permit -- that Schofield fraudulently issued in exchange for money, according to the indictment. That set in motion a scheme in which Chou allegedly continued using fake documents to get legal permanent resident status, an application and interview for naturalization, and, in November 2002, a certificate of naturalization.

Hsieh followed a similar path, the indictment says, and used false documentation to become a naturalized citizen in March 2005.

The couple claimed to be lawfully naturalized citizens when they got jobs as State Department contractors and government security clearances, the indictment says.

They also allegedly helped other illegal immigrants get documents by collecting money, photographs and personal information from them, and providing those items to Schofield. According to the indictment, the couple translated instructions from Schofield for the immigrants who wanted documents and instructed the immigrants to bring cash to meetings with Schofield.

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