United States Attorney Kenyen R. Brown announced today that Rodney Eugene Hill, a United States citizen and resident of Mobile, was sentenced to ten (10) months imprisonment following a jury verdict in which he and his co-defendant were found guilty of marriage fraud charges. During the course of the January trial, Hill’s Nigerian co-defendant, falsely testified that she was divorced from her Nigerian husband, Oluwagbenga Awoleye, at the time she married Hill. Awoleye and another U.S. citizen entered guilty pleas in a separate marriage fraud case in 2012. Hill and his co-defendant, Florence Nna, were married in Mobile County Probate Court on February 11, 2008, when she was approximately 8 months pregnant, with her third child by Awoleye. A number of witnesses at trial testified that Nna, Hill and Awoleye all worked together at the Salvation Army at the time of Hill and Nna’s marriage. Further testimony demonstrated that a variety of false information was submitted to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) by Hill and Nna in their efforts to obtain Nna’s “green card”. At trial an HSI Special Agent testified that when Hill was questioned during the investigation, he admitted that he and Nna never lived together, as they claimed in the documents submitted to USCIS.

In imposing the ten month custody sentence, United States District Court Judge Callie V.S. Granade took into account Hill’s criminal history, and referenced that if not for United States Citizens entering into marriages to aid others in avoiding the immigration laws, these offenses could not take place.

This case was investigated by Special Agent Daniel Evans of Homeland Security Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Vicki Davis and Michele O’Brien of the Southern District of Alabama.