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Posted on Wed, Mar. 18, 2009


More immigration charges for Chesco man

By Mari A. Schaefer

Inquirer Staff Writer
Two days before he was to return to federal court for a hearing, a Chester County man faces more charges that he lied to obtain a green card.

Sean O'Neill Sr., 48, of Willistown Township, is facing two additional counts alleging that he used a fraudulently obtained alien-registration card and that he falsely claimed he was a U.S. citizen.

O'Neill, a native of Northern Ireland, was 17 when he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison for being a member of a now-defunct radical youth group associated with the Irish Republican Army.

According to a federal affidavit, he came to the United States in January 1983 on a six-month visa and later purchased a gun, saying he was born in Texas. He purchased three more guns over subsequent years using the same story.

Federal authorities say O'Neill renewed his green card twice without correcting information on his application.

He has been arrested twice on weapons charges in the United States, once in 1983 by Haverford police and again in 2007 by state police, seven months after they searched his home and found an illegal silencer.

O'Neill's children have also had legal problems.

Sean O'Neill Jr., 19, is on house arrest after being released March 7 from a juvenile treatment program. In August 2006 at an underage drinking party, he shot and killed his friend Scott Sheridan, 17, of West Chester.

Roisin O'Neill, 22, is awaiting trial in connection with an alleged drunken-driving crash last year on the Blue Route in Montgomery County. Police say she drove her SUV the wrong way, colliding head-on with another vehicle and killing a 63-year-old Massachusetts grandmother traveling to the area to visit family.

Contact staff writer Mari A. Schaefer at 610-892-9149 or mschaefer@phillynews.com.




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