US Woman in Kansas City Sentenced for Marrying Kenyan Man for Immigration Purposes

A woman in Kansas City, Missouri was on Tuesday sentenced to one year in prison after she was found guilty of entering into a sham marriage with a Kenyan immigrant. 24 year-old Tierra Ofield pleaded guilty in March this year before a Judge in a U.S. District Court in Kansas City to charges of conspiracy to circumvent to United States immigration laws.

According to documents filed by prosecutors before the Court, Ofield allegedly received $700 to marry a man from Kenya in 2011. The documents further assert that Ofield later received three monthly payments of $150 from the same engagement.

The US citizen was among six people prosecuted in the marriage fraud scheme.

The court heard that Tierra was part of a conspiracy in which American citizens were paid to marry African nationals so that the African nationals could gain US permanent residency.

Delmar Dixon, 49, one of the six Americans charged, pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit marriage fraud. Delmar admitted to arranging marriages between African nationals and US citizens, with Tierra being one of the Americans he recruited.