Thread: Illegal immigrant gets 18 months in marriage scam

Illegal immigrant gets 18 months in marriage scam; will be deported
Posted to: Crime News Norfolk

By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot
© December 12, 2007

NORFOLK

A native of Macedonia who has lived in this country for 15 years as an illegal immigrant was sentenced Monday to 18 months in federal prison and will be deported upon release.

Aslan Salaj, whose nicknames include Asian and Johnny, previously pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to marriage fraud and related charges. He admitted arranging a sham marriage to gain citizenship.

Salaj, who is in his late 30s, admitted entering the country with a phony Italian passport in 1992. He subsequently obtained four phony driver's licenses, including one from Virginia.

"The crime of marriage fraud is serious on its face," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph E. DePadilla wrote in a court filing.

"Foreign nationals who come to the United States and enter into marriages of convenience to gain citizenship constitute a threat to internal security," he wrote.

Marrying a U.S. citizen is one of the fastest ways for immigrants to obtain legal residency and citizenship. The federal government has been cracking down on sham marriages in recent years. In Norfolk this past year, about a dozen individuals have been charged with marriage fraud, most involving Eastern Europeans.

Salaj married Leigha Rueting in September 2005. According to court papers in the case, Rueting later became an FBI informant and was not charged.

In exchange for the marriage, Rueting received free rent while Salaj lived elsewhere, the papers say.

Salaj had worked for a local building contractor, and he also cleaned offices in New York City, his attorney said in a court filing.

In an unrelated case Monday, Vadym V. Borodyonok, a native of Ukraine, was sentenced to six months in jail after pleading guilty to marriage fraud. He, too, will be deported.

Borodyonok admitted to entering into a sham marriage in April with Ashley Y. Farrell of Virginia Beach.

Farrell previously pleaded guilty, admitt ed that she receiv ed $2,000 for the marriage, and was sentenced to probation.

http://hamptonroads.com

Will he be deported then? Or will we hear cries of 'he has put down roots', etc., etc.,