Maine: The go-to state for immigrant marriage fraud, etc. etc. etc.

04/09/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

What happened to Maine? First we learned it is attracting hordes of Somali welfare moochers, then phony asylum-seeker schemers and now marriage fraudsters.

The word must be all over Africa—get to Maine!

Rashid Kakande hatched the marriage fraud scheme

Busted! The Bangor Daily News reports that it is (was) one of the most sophisticated marriage fraud rings in the country. And, on top of the marriage fraud, the cheats have gone one step further and claimed fake spousal abuse to assure they get to stay in the good ol’ USA (land of suckers!).

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Bangor Daily News (Hat tip: crime sleuth ‘pungentpeppers’):

BANGOR, Maine — One of the country’s most sophisticated marriage fraud schemes officially ended Tuesday when a federal judge sentenced the last defendant to a year in prison.

Margaret Kimani, 30, of Worcester, Mass., was one of 28 defendants convicted in Maine of being part of a scam that paid American citizens living in Maine to wed African immigrants so they could more easily obtain permanent residency status, known as a green card, and achieve citizenship more easily, Maine’s U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II said at a press conference after the sentencing.

“America’s legal immigration system is not for sale and we will move aggressively against those who willfully compromise the integrity of that system simply to enrich themselves,” said Bruce Foucart, special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, whose office headed the investigation that led to the prosecutions.

“HSI’s message is very simple,” he said at the press conference. “U.S. citizenship is not for sale and there are consequences for those who commit marriage fraud. If you commit marriage fraud, there isn’t going to be a honeymoon.”

The investigation was launched in 2005 and identified more than 40 sham marriages in the Lewiston/Auburn and Newport areas between U.S. citizens in Maine and nationals from Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Cameroon. Prosecutions began in 2010.

There is more. Read the rest of the tortured tale.

Our extensive Maine archive is here. Lewiston, Maine has produced many stories all by itself, click here for more on Lewiston.

Columbus, OH: Somali sentenced in ‘No Child Left Behind’ scam

04/07/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Apparently this is one of several cases of this particular scam being investigated in Columbus, Ohio because we posted on another one, here, back in February.

From the Norwalk Reflector (Hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’). Emphasis is mine:

A Somali man who ran a scam tutoring company for needy Franklin County students was sentenced to 13 months in prison Thursday on federal charges of falsifying invoices and stealing students’ identities.

Ashkir Ali, 46, of Balsam Lake Drive on the East Side, pleaded guilty in November to the charges. He faced as many as seven years in prison.

Ashkir Ali could be deported, and he might actually do Somalia more good than he does the US. But, don’t hold your breath!

“I’m not coming back here,” Ali told U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. “I’ve learned my lesson.”

Sargus ordered Ali to pay $115,916 in restitution and to serve 13 months in a federal prison and five months in a half-way house. He said a mandatory two-year prison sentence for identity theft was reduced because of Ali’s “substantial assistance” in investigating tutoring fraud.

Ali was indicted more than a year ago after a two-year investigation of his company, WAISS Network Technologies, by the Ohio auditor’s office.

The probe revealed that WAISS made $100,000 from Columbus and $20,000 from South-Western city schools as part of the federal “supplemental educational services” tutoring program, mandated by the No Child Left Behind law.

The other day I mentioned that there is beginning to be some reporting by the mainstream media about the refugee program in negative news about refugees. A few years ago there would not have been a line like the next one in a crime report, while fluffy puffy feel-good stories would always mention the ‘r’ word.

Ali came to the United States in 1997 as a political refugee and is a permanent U.S. resident, Sargus said. He could be deported to Somalia after his prison term because he has been convicted of an aggravated felony, according to his plea agreement.

He won’t be deported, not the way things are going now with ICE (see Senator Sessions).

By the way, Columbus is right behind Minneapolis with its rapidly expanding Somali population.

Canada: Roma refugee sentenced in apartment building arson

04/06/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Diversity is strength alert!

Looks like Canada got a vibrant ‘new Canadian’ when they gave this one citizenship!

Bad boy won’t be allowed matches when he gets out in 8 months!

From thespec.com (Hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’):

A 62-year-old man has been sentenced to two years in jail for dousing his Bold Street high-rise apartment with gasoline and setting it on fire.

The December 2011 fire triggered an emergency rescue of tenants, including seniors, that sent four Hamilton police officers to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

Rudolf Balogh was sentenced Friday within hours of pleading guilty to arson endangering life.

[….]

The fire caused an explosion that knocked out windows and sent shattered glass across the street, Reid said, adding damage was in excess of $100,000.

He came to Canada in 1999 and had his last job in 2000! So he worked for a year until he figured out how to get on disability! Yet, they say he has poor “coping skills.”

Balogh came to Canada as a refugee claimant in 1999 and was granted Canadian citizenship in 2010. He was married twice and has five children.

His last job was in 2000 and he has received government assistance since 2001 under the Ontario Disability Support Program because of health issues including heart problems, diabetes, colon cancer, a leg injury and mental health.

The psychiatrist report said Balogh attempted suicide many times, suffers from depression and has poor coping skills. The fire, the report said, was a result of a major depressive episode and a cry for help.

He only has 8 months left on his sentence before he is out in public again! Take comfort though—he has been forbidden matches! This is not a joke, but it is an idea for a comedy skit!

Balogh, who appeared in court in a wheelchair and with a Hungarian interpreter, has been in custody off and on since arrested in Jan. 2012 because he twice breached his bail conditions.

Charges on the breaches were yet to be dealt with and there was no information on what the breaches were.

Carpenter-Gunn sentenced him to two years, but gave him credit for 16 months for his time in custody — leaving him eight months to still serve. This will be followed by three years of probation. [Here is a novel idea—how about deportation!—ed]

He was also ordered to provide a DNA sample, ordered not to possess any matches, lighters or incendiary devices, or firearms, and to stay away from the apartment building property manager and the taxi driver.

For more news on Canada’s refugee problems, see our Canada category here.

Nashville: More immigrant entrepreneurs busted!

03/29/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Diversity is strength! Right Mr. Lubell?

Nashville, Tennessee is the premier Bible belt destination city for refugee and immigrant migration thanks to people like David Lubell and his old friends (Avi Poster and Tom Negri) at ‘Welcoming Tennessee.’

Regular readers know that Lubell used his ‘Welcoming Tennessee’ franchise to turn it into ‘Welcoming America’ and now gets a grant (in addition to funding from George Soros) from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement to travel America and tell about Nashville’s successful immigrants. And, if you are a new reader, it is Catholic Charities that runs the entire refugee placement program in Tennessee.

You can read more about ‘Welcoming America’ on the technical assistance page of ORR’s ‘Key Indicators for Refugee Placement FY2014‘ (page 2).

We have a whole category on Nashville’s plight. Here is one important post about turning red states blue. Nashville has the fastest growing population of the foreign born of any city in America.

This is not the first time the Nashville police have had to crack down on Muslim store owners. I would be surprised to learn if this pair are refugees (asylees maybe), but the point is once your city is “welcoming” they will come.

From News Channel 5 (hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’):

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Police shut down and padlocked a business in Nashville on Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation into synthetic drug sales.

Metro Police said Rum Wholesale at 1305 Dickerson Pike was deemed a public nuisance for repeated distribution of synthetic opiates.

The owner, 40-year-old Mohammed Amer,*** was arrested Wednesday and charged with possession of counterfeit controlled substances with intent to sell. He will also be charged with felony tampering.

On March 17, three convenience stores in Nashville were shut down for allegedly selling liquid relaxation shots that contained mitragynine, a chemical specifically banned by Tennessee law because of its opiate characteristics.

At that time, the stores, which included Discount Tobacco & Beer on Robinson Road, Madison Discount Tobacco & Beer on N. Gallatin Pike, and Litton’s Corner Market on Gallatin Pike, were declared public nuisances and padlocked by order of the court.

During the investigation, detectives learned that Rum Wholesale was a supplier of the liquid shots. When they went to the business on March 17, they found an employee, 27-year-old Rabea Aldheleai, loading boxes of the illegal liquid shots into a BMW.

If you are wondering how it is that a liquor store is run by Muslims—it is a twofer. First they make a lot of money with schemes like this one and then there is the secondary benefit of potentially destroying the lives of infidels (encouraged in Islam).

Do you have a ‘Welcoming America’ affiliate in your state?

***That’s funny! Amer is one of the perps in our February story, but The Tennessean link is now dead—what is up with that? We know The Tennessean has pimped for more multiculturalism for Nashville, but are they removing stories that make Nashville’s Muslims look bad?

Portland, OR: Lebanese family ripped-off US taxpayers, while some lived in Lebanon

03/28/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

These are apparently not “refugees” but some legal program allowed this family of crooks to live among us for years and steal from the taxpayers through social security, food stamp and healthcare fraud.

I’m bringing you this story for two reasons: first the complexity of this immigrant ‘entrepreneur’ scam once again confirms that some immigrants are skilled (trained?) in how to tap into our welfare system, and secondly, every American should watch for such frauds in your home town and report them! In this case, local pharmacy employees smelled a rat while the crooks made some dumb moves.

From The Oregonian. He applied for home health care for a mother who lived in Lebanon! Hat tip: crime sleuth ‘pungentpeppers.’

Emphasis is mine:

An unemployed Southeast Portland man who reportedly wore lots of jewelry, flashed pictures of trips to Lebanon and owned a Mercedes was sentenced to six months of prison Wednesday for cashing disability checks for a sister who was living outside the United States. [Only six months!—ed]

Jason I. Boutros, 49, must also pay nearly $221,000 in restitution to the Social Security Administration and the Oregon Department of Human Services, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon ordered.

Boutros was one of four family members who, prosecutors said, bilked federal and state agencies of disability, Medicaid and food-stamp benefits over several years, collecting payments even as some lived in Lebanon for long stretches, making them ineligible.

Investigators began looking into Boutros’ payments in 2009 when he submitted a request to DHS seeking payment for providing home-care services for his mother in March of that year, court filings say. But the state learned his mother had been out of the country in March 2009.

Pharmacy employees blew the whistle!

The lifestyle of the Boutros family had raised questions by employees at the pharmacy where the family would pick up prescriptions, a sentencing memorandum states. One said Boutros wore “lots of jewelry” and showed photos of trips to Lebanon and another said she had reported him to a fraud hotline.

And when agents searched Boutros’ Southeast Portland home in April 2013, they found a Mercedes in the garage and a tanning bed in another building on the property, according to Cooper’s sentencing memorandum.

Read it all!

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