33 charged with sham marriages for benefits

NORFOLK

Federal authorities have combed through eight states since early Wednesday morning, arresting suspects in a sweeping investigation into fraudulent marriages between Navy sailors and illegal immigrants.

Three indictments unsealed Wednesday afternoon charge 33 people - current and former sailors and their brides. Thirteen defendants appeared in U.S. District Court as federal agents searched seven other states for the remaining suspects.

"Each of you is charged with a serious offense," U.S. Magistrate James E. Bradberry told five of the women standing before him.

"This is not something you can afford to take lightly, because your freedom will be at stake," he said.

Federal authorities have been targeting bogus marriages and Navy housing fraud for at least two years, having already arrested at least 40 other individuals here and in New York.

This is the largest one-time sweep, and Navy officials said they hope this puts an end to the practice. More than 73 people have been arrested so far, with dozens convicted, jailed or deported.

"There are specific approved procedures to obtain citizenship in our country. Cheating is not one of them," U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said in a statement scheduled to be released this morning and obtained by The Virginian-Pilot on Wednesday.

The arrangement benefits both bride and groom. The brides, here illegally, get the fast track to green cards and, possibly, citizenship. The sailors get an increase in their housing allowances, plus payments ranging from $1,000 to $6,000 from their brides.

Authorities say they also have national-security concerns: The illegal immigrant could be seeking to cause harm. With the dozens of brides arrested so far, no such threat has been uncovered.

Word of the scheme spread through Norfolk Naval Station over the past several years. Sailors learned they could take home thousands more a year in housing allowances if they married, according to court papers. The Navy said the scheme has cost taxpayers more than $225,000.

Samuel G. Worth, special agent in charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's Norfolk office, said he believes such marriage and housing scams actually cost taxpayers millions each year.

"The message from these arrests should be quite clear - any Navy personnel who engage in this kind of criminal activity will be pursued and held accountable," Worth said in the statement.

Most of the brides are from Eastern Europe and came here on short-term student or visitor visas. The court papers say the marriages were never consummated.

Many of the women have ties to each other, according to the court records.

When Valeriya Tsymbal, a Ukrainian national, was arrested last October on marriage fraud charges, three friends showed up in court to support her. Those three have since been indicted on their own marriage fraud charges. Two of the friends, Tatsiana V. Smuraha, 22, and Nataliya V. Chorna, 24, were arrested Wednesday in the latest case. The third was arrested in January.

Besides charges of marriage fraud and filing phony immigration papers, Smuraha was charged with witness tampering and obstruction of justice for trying to get Tsymbal's husband to testify at her trial that their marriage was legitimate, according to the indictment. Tsymbal ended up pleading guilty and was sentenced to four months in prison.

Smuraha also is accused of trying to cover up the alleged crime.

After learning of the investigation through Tsymbal, Smuraha asked her husband, Samuel J. Strasbaugh, to move in with her to make their marriage look legitimate in case the authorities came knocking, according to the indictment. Strasbaugh allegedly agreed, with the condition that his girlfriend move in as well. Strasbaugh is stationed on the amphibious assault ship Wasp.

He and seven other current and former sailors also were arrested Wednesday, though some turned themselves in, and appeared before Bradberry. Other sailors in the case are stationed aboard the Iwo Jima, another amphibious assault ship.

In all, 16 women were charged in the indictment.

Citing their questionable immigration status, Bradberry ordered the five women detained pending bond hearings on Monday. All of the men were released except one, who has a criminal record.

Other arrests were being made in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and California. Authorities said some of the suspects fled Hampton Roads upon learning they were targets of the investigation.

An attorney for one of the sailors declined to comment after Wednesday's proceedings. Most of the others did not yet have counsel.

One attorney representing a defendant in a related marriage fraud case questioned the government's methods in tackling the problem.

Evgenia A. Popravka of Ukraine, who previously had been indicted, was arraigned earlier in the day Wednesday on charges of entering into a bogus marriage with Mark. T. Vanhorn in 2005.

Vanhorn was slain outside a nightclub near Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach in January 2007. He was an innocent bystander in a gunbattle.

Stephen P. Patrizio, a Philadelphia attorney representing Popravka, said he doesn't understand all the effort being put into jailing illegal immigrants in marriage fraud cases when they will end up being deported anyway.

"I think there's a whole lot of other things that need more attention," he said.

He said his client plans to fight the charges.

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