Mansfield man indicted on federal fraud charge in Chicago
A Mansfield man is among six people to have been charged with visa fraud for what federal agents say was a conspiracy to stage armed robberies in Chicago and its suburbs so purported victims could apply for U.S. immigration visas reserved for certain crime victims, according to an indictment unsealed this month in federal court.
Kewon Young, 31, of Mansfield, and Parth Nayi, 26, of Woodridge, Illinois, are alleged to have organized and participated in staged armed robberies at restaurants, coffee shops, liquor stores and gas stations in Chicago and the suburbs of Lombard, Elmwood Park, St. Charles, Hickory Hills, River Grove, Lake Villa and South Holland, as well as restaurants in Rayne, Louisiana, and Belvidere, Tennessee.
The indictment indicates that four other men arranged with Nayi to be “victims” of the staged robberies so they could submit applications for U nonimmigrant status, which is set aside for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in an investigation or prosecution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
Individuals paid Nayi thousands of dollars to participate in the scam, according to the indictment. During the staged robberies, federal officials wrote, individuals acting as robbers brandished what appeared to be firearms, approached the purported victims and demanded money and property. Afterward, some of the supposed victims submitted forms to local law enforcement to obtain certification that they were victims of a qualifying crime and had been or would be helpful in the investigation, the indictment states. Upon receiving certification, some of the victims then submitted fraudulent U-visa applications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Nayi; Young; Bhikhabhai Patel, 51, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky; Nilesh Patel, 32, of Jackson, Tennessee; Ravinaben Patel, 23, of Racine, Wisconsin; and Rajnikumar Patel, 32, of Jacksonville, Florida, are charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud. Ravinaben Patel is also charged with an individual count of making a false statement in a visa application.
The conspiracy charge is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, while the false statement charge against Ravinaben Patel is punishable by up to 10 years, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The indictment was announced by Morris Pasqual, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler, Jr., special agent-in-charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; and Sean Fitzgerald, special agent-in-charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Chicago. The government is represented by assistant U.S. attorneys Matthew D. Moyer and Saqib M. Hussain.
lwhitmir@gannett.com
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield OH man among 6 charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud
