Joseph Onolenga Okamba, Visa Fraud, Iowa 2026

A Des Moines man who once called Cedar Rapids home has been sentenced to federal prison for his role in a scheme to defraud the United States.

Congolese national Joseph Onolenga Okamba, 40, appeared in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids to face the music. Okamba, who came to the United States in 2008, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States on November 13, 2025.

According to court records, Okamba was involved in a visa fraud scheme that involved bringing in family members and friends from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Okamba's scheme involved multiple visa petitions where the petitioner would fraudulently claim to be married to the person they were bringing in. In one instance, Okamba provided a marriage certificate to a grand jury as proof of a legitimate marriage. He also lied about his relationship to a woman he claimed was his birth mother.

Okamba was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $4,000. He will also serve three years of supervised release after his prison term. Okamba was released on bond and is set to surrender to the U.S. Marshal on June 22, 2026.

Okamba's co-defendants, Joseph Longanga Okoko and Medard Lotahe Elonge, have already been sentenced to three months and one year and one day in prison, respectively.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew J. Cole and Nicole L. Nagin, and investigated by a number of agencies including the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Waterloo Police Department.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndia/pr/naturalized-citizen-congo-sentenced-federal-prison-involvement-scheme-defraud-united