Thread: Immigrant charged for accepting sailor`s death benefit

Immigrant charged for accepting sailor's death benefit
Posted to: Crime Military Norfolk
The indictment
Evgenia A. Popravka, a Ukrainian national, married sailor Mark VanHorn in 2005 for the sole purpose of evading deportation, according to court papers. VanHorn received an additional monthly housing allowance from the Navy.
Popravka arrived in the United States in the summer of 2002 on a student work visa, which expired in April 2003.
Her marriage to VanHorn was arranged by several co-conspirators, including his roommate, who has pleaded guilty to filing a false claim and has agreed to cooperate.
In 2007, after returning from sea aboard the destroyer Winston S. Churchill, VanHorn was shot and killed outside a nightclub in Virginia Beach.
In July, Popravka applied for a $100,000 death benefit from the Navy. She received the check and cashed it in August.

By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot
© June 12, 2008
NORFOLK

In a new twist in the ongoing investigation into marriage fraud among sailors and Eastern European women, a federal grand jury has indicted one of the women on charges of defrauding the government by accepting her deceased spouse's $100,000 death benefit.

Evgenia A. Popravka, 27, pleaded not guilty at her arraignment in U.S. District Court on Wednesday morning and will take her case to trial on June 24, said her attorney, Eric Korslund.

"If she was legitimately married to Mark VanHorn, which she was," Korslund said, "then the death benefit rightfully goes to her."

The U.S. attorney's office says otherwise.

According to the indictment, Popravka, a Ukrainian national, married VanHorn in July 2005 at Norfolk Circuit Court for the sole purpose of evading deportation. In return, VanHorn received an additional monthly housing allowance from the Navy.

Popravka arrived in the United States in the summer of 2002 on a student work visa, which expired in April 2003. She's been in the country illegally ever since, according to court filings.

Her marriage to VanHorn was arranged by several co-conspirators, including his roommate in 2005, Michael G. Metal, according to court filings. Metal has since pleaded guilty to filing a false claim and has agreed to cooperate with the government.

Metal, who also married a Ukrainian national, has provided a statement saying that VanHorn was in dire financial straits and agreed to the fraudulent marriage. In his statement, Metal said he could not even remember the name of VanHorn's spouse.

After marrying VanHorn, Popravka returned to Philadelphia, where she had been living. Her attorney said she traveled back and forth while her husband was at sea.

"They had all intentions of spending the rest of their lives together," Korslund said.

In January 2007, after returning from sea aboard the destroyer Winston S. Churchill, VanHorn, 24, was shot and killed outside a Virginia Beach nightclub. Two men were charged with first-degree murder and are awaiting trial. There's no connection between the marriage fraud case and the killing, authorities said.

In July, Popravka applied for a $100,000 death benefit from the Navy. She received the check and cashed it in August, according to the indictment.

According to an obituary in VanHorn's hometown of Mount Pleasant, Pa., he was survived by his mother, stepfather and two brothers. He also has a daughter living in California. Messages left for family members by The Virginian-Pilot were not returned Wednesday.

The government initially charged Popravka only with the marriage fraud conspiracy, but after prosecutors learned of the death benefit, they obtained a new indictment last week adding a wire fraud charge.

Before her arrest in February, Popravka had been working in Philadelphia at a shoe store, earning $8 an hour.

She is now in jail without bond.

Immigration officials have also filed a detainer against her, the first step in the deportation process.

The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on the pending case.

Prosecutors have charged more than three dozen sailors and Eastern European women in a marriage fraud investigation that has continued for more than two years.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com





http://hamptonroads.com/2008/06/immigra ... th-benefit

That money should rightfully have gone to the sailors daughter. This is deplorable. I hope she spends time in a nice prison before being sent back.

This illustrates how easy it is for illegal aliens to commit fraud over and over again. Everything she owns should be confiscated to repay that money, she should serve her sentence and be deported after that.