2 Ohio women sentenced in Va. immigration case


May 1, 2009 10:05 AM ET

HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) - Two Ohio women have been sentenced in Virginia for their roles in a scheme to obtain bogus identification cards for illegal immigrants.

A federal judge in Harrisonburg sentenced 23-year-old Christina Cheatham of Columbus on Thursday to a year in prison. Twenty-8-year-old Michelle Eckerman, also of Columbus, received 30 months' probation.

Both women had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the federal government.

Another defendant, 31-1-year-old Nekeia Mack-Fuller of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, was acquitted in April. Two others pleaded guilty last year and were later sentenced.

Prosecutors said several defendants sold Puerto Rican birth certificates and matching Social Security cards to illegal aliens, then arranged their travel from Virginia to Columbus to obtain fake state IDs.

http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=10285867