Woman in fake marriage gets 6-month probation

Had both perpetrators been tried, government prosecutor Harold Pickering told the court yesterday the Commonwealth may have had a stronger case against Mr. and Mrs. Mohammed Azad, the defendants to the CNMI’s first convicted “sham” marriage case.

Rarely seen in the local courts, Superior Court Associate Judge Timothy H. Bellas ruled that Rebecca Lynn Castro Azad serve a three-month jail sentence, suspended for a period of six months, for marrying her husband for the sole purpose of changing his immigration status.

Mr. Azad had fled the island before he was summoned to appear in court to answer to the same charges.

In reading Ms. Azad’s sentence, Mr. Bellas warned the practice selling marriage rights in exchange for a new immigration status could become pervasive if the fraudulent deed continues to be tolerated.

“This is a serious conviction. People will be prosecuted if they commit this type of fraud. If Mr. Azad was here, it would have been a totally different ball game,” Mr. Pickering addressed the court yesterday.

The defense, however, maintained that Ms. Azad received no financial compensation for her part in the fraudulent marriage.

She will serve a 6-month probation sentence and has been ordered to pay a $55-assessment and probation fee.

The defendant had earlier pled guilty to conspiracy to commit immigration fraud.

According to court documents, last May 12, 1999, Mr. Azad made use of fraudulent immigration documents which he knew to be false to be submitted for an application for entry permit with an “immediate relative” status which was based on his May 26, 1998 marriage to Ms. Azad.

The prosecution has dubbed the marriage as a “sham” where parties entered into the vows of holy matrimony solely to obtain for Mr. Azad an immediate relative status.

According to the suit, Mr. Azad agreed to pay Mrs. Azad monetary compensation for entering into the marriage.

But during Ms. Azad’s plea bargain hearing, the defendant claimed she received no financial payment for marrying Mr. Azad.

The court had learned that defendant had a live-in partner who was not Mr. Azad since and during the time of their marriage.

The suspect also bore another child in addition to her brood of three with her current boyfriend while still legally married to Mr. Azad.

The prosecution has asserted that Mr. Azad’s submission of application to the Division of Immigration was a fraudulent, particularly since the defendant also knew the license presented was a “sham” or a fraudulent marriage.

The couple was originally charged with seven counts of immigration fraud, conspiracy, false vehicle registration and perjury.