Twenty-Eight South Florida Residents Sentenced in Marriage and Immigration Fraud Scheme

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Alysa D. Erichs, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI), Miami Field Office, announce that on August 24, 2015, Inaldo Chavez, 57, of Hialeah, Caridad Baez, 50, of Hialeah, and Masiel Puron, 33, of Marathon, were sentenced following their pleas of guilty to various immigration fraud charges.   The conspiracy’s organizers, Chavez and Baez, were sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment.  Recruiter Puron was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment.  The other defendants, Elides Rodriguez Vallejo, 42, of Marathon, Claudio Catapano, 49, of Argentina, Naile Yubero Carrasco, 30, of Hialeah, Enrique Giglio, 32, of Venezuela, Duniesky Alvarez Perez, 26, of Homestead, Angela Cuellar Velandia, 29, of Colombia, Marcos Vila, 25, of Homestead, Olena Pokotiuk, 27, of Ukraine, Dayana Trigueiro, 21, of Homestead, Vladimir Popa, 28, of Moldova, Yinet Hernandez Martinez, 31, of Weston, Daylin Ramirez Pereira, 24, of Marathon, Igor Singereanu, 29, of Moldova, Jennifer Gutierrez, 22, of Marathon, Serghei Serdiuc, 27, of Moldova, Suset Nodarse Gonzalez, 23, of Coral Gables, Eldar Ben Atar, 28, of Israel, Kassandra Perdomo, 21, of Miami, Efrain Basaldella Landa, 24, of Venezuela, Elio Martinez Alan, 44, of Hialeah, Maria Pinto Camacho, 48, of Venezuela, Jenny Gonzalez, 24, of Miami, and Ido Sharir, 25, of Israel, were sentenced in June following their  pleas of guilty to various immigration fraud charges.  They received varying sentences.  One other individual charged in the indictment remains as a fugitive, Camilo Benavides Prieto, 30, of Colombia.

According to court documents, between May 2011 and February 2014, organizers, Chavez and Baez, and recruiters, including Puron, arranged for United States citizens and lawful permanent residents to enter into fraudulent marriages with aliens for the purpose of evading the immigration laws of the United States.  Chavez, Baez, and Puron charged the aliens a fee to arrange the fraudulent marriages, notarized the fraudulent marriage licenses, completed the necessary immigration paperwork, and prepared the co-conspirators for their interviews with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.  The United States citizen and lawful permanent resident co-conspirators also charged the aliens a fee to enter into the fraudulent marriages.  Aliens Catapano, Giglio, Velandia, Pokotiuk, Popa, Prieto, Singereanu, Serdiuc, Atar, Landa, Camacho, and Sharir, all paid a fee to enter into fraudulent marriages with United States citizens Gutierrez and Jenny Gonzalez, and lawful permanent residents Vallejo, Carrasco, Perez, Vila, Trigueiro, Martinez, Pereira, Suset Gonzalez, Perdomo, and Alan.  These fraudulent marriages took place in the Southern District of Florida.  In addition, during the time that they were arranging the fraudulent marriages, Chavez and Baez personally attempted to fraudulently obtain naturalization.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of ICE-HSI and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, who provided significant and valuable support to this investigation.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vanessa Snyder.

An indictment is only an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.