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Two plead not guilty to lying in US passport application
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Posted on Apr 13 2012
A woman and her brother-in-law have pleaded not guilty to charges that they lied in an application for a U.S. passport for her son.
Aifang Ye and her brother-in-law, Zhenyan Cheng, both Chinese nationals, were arraigned in federal court Thursday afternoon. They were each represented by their court-appointed counsels.
Ye and Cheng pleaded not guilty to the indictment charging them with conspiracy to make a false statement in a passport application and false statement in application for a U.S. passport.
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona set the jury trial for June 11, 2012.
The two were released upon posting an unsecured bond.
Cheng allegedly posed as the father of his brother’s child. Cheng’s brother, Xigao Cheng, left the CNMI for China in September 2011 and has not returned to the Commonwealth, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Ryan K. Faulkner in an affidavit filed in court.
According to the indictment, Ye and Cheng conspired to make it appear as if Cheng is the father of Ye’s child in an application for a U.S. passport for the child.
