El Monte resident arrested for creating phony U.S. Army unit in Temple City, recruiting Chinese nationals to pay to serve:

By Daniel Tedford, Staff Writer

Posted: 04/12/2011 01:44:55 PM PDT

POMONA - A Chinese national living in El Monte was arrested Tuesday for creating a phony U.S. Army special forces unit out of an office in Temple City, officials with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office said.
Yupeng Deng, also known as David Deng, is suspected of recruiting more than 100 Chinese nationals into the unit by offering a path to citizenship, Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office officials said.

Deng, 51, was arrested Tuesday by Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies assisting the F.B.I. and the Department of Criminal Investigated Services. Deng is being charged with 13 counts of theft by false pretenses, manufacturing deceptive government documents and counterfeit of an official government seal.

Deng is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday at Pomona Superior Court. He is being held on $500,000 bail.

Connie Choi, an attorney with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, said immigration scams are becoming more prevalent.

"This is not symptomatic of just the Chinese-American community, but all immigrant communities," Choi said. "The unfortunate thing is a lot of times it is happening ... it is happening within their own communities."

While she has not heard of anyone using an Army unit as a means to an immigration scam, Choi said she wasn't surprised by the method.

[b]"Going to the army is a way for people to get status in the U.S.,â€