Posted on 04/10/2004 3:59:33 AM PDT by sarcasm
Investigators called it "Operation Love at the Pumps" - only there was no love involved.
It was all about money. Money a young woman could get from a sham marriage to a foreign national. Money an illegal immigrant would pay for a green card. Money one man took for selling out his teenage daughter.
Lisa LaShay married Ahmed Raza, a Pakistani widower 13 years her senior, in June 2002, court records say. It was a match made south of heaven at a Citgo station in Fond du Lac. The bride was 19. Within weeks, she was pregnant, but not with her husband's baby. The two lived together a mere 10 days and never consummated their marriage, according to the records.
By the time the whole thing unraveled, four men were indicted. Authorities credit a post-Sept. 11 crackdown on visitors from mostly Middle Eastern countries with helping them uncover the scheme.
"It's a charge that, at least in today's environment, has a heightened focus and concern," U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa said of the marriage fraud.
Faryad "Frankie" Hussain came to the United States from Pakistan in 1992. He married a U.S. citizen, and the couple bought a gas station on Main St. in Fond du Lac. The Citgo was a gathering place for many taxi drivers in town. It was also where, authorities say, Hussain and one of his employees, John LaShay, hatched a plan they thought would be a "win-win," according to court records.
LaShay, convicted last month of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and obstruction of justice, continues to maintain his innocence, said his attorney, Michael Holzman.
But several witnesses and court documents paint this picture:
On a summer day in 2002, Lashay's 19-year-old daughter, Lisa, came into the station, complaining that her car had broken down and she didn't have the money to fix it. She was living in public housing with her 3-year-old son and receiving food stamps. Her father said he wished she could get a job and start paying for some things.
That's when Hussain interjected, telling them some Pakistani acquaintances would pay good money for a wife, which would help them get a green card to stay in America.
Hussain had a particular man in mind for Lisa: Ahmed Raza. Raza, 32, whose wife had died in childbirth, had come to the U.S. on a visitor's visa in January 2002. He'd left his 2-year-old daughter in Pakistan with her grandmother, but he hoped to find a way the little girl could join him here.
Prosecutors say Hussain promised John LaShay, 52, a finder's fee of at least $4,000 he could share with his daughter. A witness to the conversation says that at first, Lisa LaShay seemed agreeable but later changed her mind, telling the two men she felt they were "pimping her out."
According to Lisa's testimony, her father pressed the issue and ultimately persuaded her to go through with the wedding. In exchange, she received $800, a bedroom set worth about $500 and a used car. After the ceremony, she and Raza, who still had about a month remaining on his visitor's visa, filled out government forms asking that he be allowed to stay in the country. The two lived together in a Milwaukee apartment for 10 days.
Authorities say Hussain next went in search of other brides-to-be, including Lisa's sister.
Hussain "thought that I might do it, too, and he asked me if I would if he gave me $2,000 to marry his brother," Christina LaShay told investigators. "I said, 'No, I don't do things like that, I don't know who he is. I've never met him before.' "
Christina was 15 at the time.
Hussain denies approaching Christina, but he admitted in a plea agreement that he and John LaShay tried to broker marriages for Lisa and Christina's single mother and for a local cabbie who was having financial trouble, Mary Paul.
Paul said Hussain mentioned a former professor of his in Pakistan who had since moved to Canada. "This was the guy he wanted me to marry," Paul told authorities. "He told me the guy wanted to start a business somewhere, but he couldn't because he didn't have a green card. He also told me this guy had a wife and three kids in his country."
After what she described as several coercive telephone calls from Hussain and John LaShay, Paul agreed to meet the man at the Citgo.
"The professor was 5 feet 11, nicely dressed, mid-40s, salt-and-pepper hair. He spoke broken English," Paul told investigators.
Paul said she felt uncomfortable and left the gas station within five minutes. Despite further nagging, she refused to marry the professor or anyone else Hussain and John LaShay sent her way.
A post-Sept. 11 immigration crackdown ultimately revealed the fraud. In late 2002, federal authorities required that visitors from certain countries, including Pakistan, register with the government. Raza went to the Milwaukee immigration office, now the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. His recent marriage and expired visa sparked officials' interest, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Johnson.
When immigration investigators called Raza's apartment, his brother answered and said Lisa did not live there. A search of the place yielded no sign of a female resident.
Raza's brother went to get Lisa so she could pose once again as a loving wife and help get Raza freed from detention, Johnson said. She refused and came clean after a single visit from the Department of Homeland Security.
The actions of Lisa LaShay, who testified against her father at his trial, remain "under review," Johnson said.
Raza's brother, indicted on a charge of fraudulently marrying another American woman, is believed to have left the country before he could be arrested. Raza pleaded guilty to immigration fraud and was deported. In February, a jury convicted John LaShay of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and obstruction of justice. His sentencing is set for June.
Hussain pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting immigration fraud and conspiracy to commit marriage fraud.
His wife has filed for divorce and plans to remain in Wisconsin with their two children, ages 5 and 3.
Last month, Randa sentenced Hussain, who has been locked up since February 2002, to 366 days in prison. Although he was credited for time served, Hussain remains in the custody of immigration officials, who will most likely send him back to Pakistan, according to his lawyer, Gerald Boyle. Because Hussain's sentence was longer than a year, it will be difficult - if not impossible - for him ever to return to the U.S.
Let's hope that is impossible instead of merely difficult.
"Because Hussain's sentence was longer than a year, it will be difficult - if not impossible - for him ever to return to the U.S."
Look at the records. This guy has probably already applied for asylum and will get it from some activist IJ.
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