Nellie Mbote, Marriage Fraud, Missouri 2024

State: Missouri
Agency: DOJ USAO
Category: Fraud &#038; Financial Crimes|Public Corruption
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/three-kenyans-indicted-marriage-fraud" style="color:#cc0000;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Official Source ↗

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nellie Mbote, Rogers Onyango Guche, and Fidelina Mwelu Mutisya find themselves in hot water as they face federal charges for their alleged roles in a marriage fraud conspiracy.

The trio, including a 35-year-old Lee’s Summit woman, have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Missouri. According to the charges, Mbote, Guche, and Mutisya were married under false pretenses to circumvent U.S. immigration laws.

Mbote, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen through marriage, along with Guche and Mutisya, lawful residents, are accused of paying off an intermediary, Delmar Dixon, to arrange their marriages. These fraudulent unions were supposedly designed to secure permanent residency and citizenship. The defendants reportedly paid $1,000 at the wedding and $100 monthly until their immigration status was resolved.

Lawyer Dixon has already faced his own legal woes, having been sentenced to three years in federal prison for arranging upwards of 30-40 fraudulent marriages, including his own.

Each defendant faces serious charges, with Mbote also accused of making false statements and procuring citizenship unlawfully. The outcome of this case could result in the revocation of her naturalization.

The grim details of this scheme have been uncovered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, who are now prosecuting the case with Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberlee L. Moore.

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