Tunisian Man Sentenced for Filing False immigration Document
Tunisian Man Sentenced for Filing False immigration Documents
Last Update: 12:41 pm
Feb 1, 2008
A Tunisian man, who conspired with his ex-wife to file false immigration documents to expedite his becoming a U.S. citizen was sentenced Friday to credit for jail time served and ordered deported to his native country.
Abderahman Dhaoui, 38, was convicted Oct. 30 of immigration fraud and making false statements on immigration applications. He spent four months in custody.
Dhaoui's former wife, 57-year-old Julie Ann Robicheaux, was convicted of the same charges and will be sentenced Feb. 11. She could face up to 21 months in prison.
The two also were accused of helping their new spouses obtain U.S. citizenship.
U.S. District Judge John Houston ordered Dhaoui's U.S. citizenship revoked.
"I apologize for the mistakes I may have done," Dhaoui told the judge, saying he was ready to return to Tunisia to be with his new wife and daughter. "I love all the good people I have met."
The evidence at trial showed that Dhaoui and Robicheaux committed fraud on the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service when they filed various immigration applications permitting him to remain in the United States as a lawful permanent resident married to a U.S. citizen.
Based upon Dhaoui's marriage to Robicheaux, he was able to "fast track" his naturalization application in only three years, instead of the standard five years, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Alessandra Serano.
Dhaoui also made regular payments totaling $11,000 over the course of the marriage to Robicheaux, but the payments stopped days before Dhaoui became a U.S. citizen, Serano said.
According to court documents, Dhaoui, who was born in Tunisia, married Robicheaux, a United States citizen by birth, in Tunisia in May 1999 after they met on an Internet chat line.
Within two years of being married, Dhaoui moved out of the home they shared and lived apart from Robicheaux, but that information was never disclosed to the INS, Serano said.
The evidence at trial also showed Dhaoui initiated divorce proceedings against Robicheaux in August 2003, within two months of him becoming a U.S. citizen.
In December 2003, Dhaoui married a Tunisian woman half Robicheaux's age and helped her immigrate to the United States.
In November 2004, Robicheaux married a Moroccan man younger than Dhaoui and helped him immigrate to the United States a month later.
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