Vows For Visas: Bogus Marriage Scheme Probed

Date: 15-Mar-2010


An alleged fraud marriage scheme has chugged along in Worcester for years, slowed β€” but not stopped β€” by a federal investigation and the lingering suspicion of City Clerk David J. Rushford.

The scheme has involved a network of arrangers based in the city, according to Mr. Rushford. The arrangers connect African immigrants with Americans who, for a sum of $5,000 to $6,000, raise their hands and swear to the clerk's staff they are entering into a lawful, loving marriage. He said the scheme involved hundreds of sham marriages over the course of at least four years.

One of the people who allegedly married an immigrant for money was Darlene L. Haynes, the pregnant Worcester woman who was murdered and had her baby cut from her womb last year. β€œWe saw people who did not necessarily know each other's last names, who did not know basic information about each other,β€