FBI and Department of Homeland Security officers have arrested an Egyptian man who allegedly ran a business from a hot dog cart on 17th and L streets NW that provided American brides for Middle Eastern men seeking green cards, officials said yesterday.
Aabid Shoeib, an illegal immigrant, was detained at his home Tuesday in the 1900 block of Ninth Street NW, Homeland Security officials said. According to a criminal complaint, he is believed to have arranged at least 100 phony marriages. Two others accused of involvement in the scheme, a U.S. citizen and a legal resident originally from Egypt, also were arrested.
"These individuals are charged with operating a well-organized marriage fraud network that allegedly helped 100 to 200 people obtain immigration status in this country illegally. We view this type of fraud as a homeland security vulnerability that can be exploited," said Dean Boyd, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is part of Homeland Security.
Agents have raided Shoeib's home in search of records of the alleged fraudulent marriages.
The three charged in the case could not be contacted yesterday. The investigation was handled by immigration and customs agents working with the FBI on this area's Joint Terrorism Task Force. There was no evidence of a terrorist connection, Boyd said.
The alleged scheme came to light after an Egyptian man, Mohmoud Ahmed, was arrested in 2003 for staying beyond the limit of his tourist visa. As his deportation proceedings began, he suddenly divorced his wife and married an 18-year-old American woman in Arlington.
Ahmed was charged with visa fraud and, in pleading guilty, agreed to cooperate with U.S. authorities, according to the criminal complaint.
Ahmed told authorities that an Egyptian friend, Hassan Serag, advised him he could avoid deportation by marrying a U.S. citizen, the complaint says. Serag then took Ahmed to a man who ran a hot dog stand on 17th and L streets NW, assuring him that the vendor could find a fake spouse, the complaint charges. The vendor allegedly contacted an American friend, Teresa Dunn, who provided the 18-year-old spouse, the documents said. Ahmed said he paid more than $2,000 for the service.
Dunn, who pleaded guilty to immigration fraud in October, told authorities she was paid by Shoeib several times for finding U.S. brides for Middle Eastern men, according to the court documents. She believed "Shoeib had arranged more than 100 to 200 marriages," the complaint said.
Ahmed and his U.S. bride told agents that another person, Joyce Snowden, was involved in the scheme. She allegedly allowed the couple to use the address of her home, on Somerset Place NW, on their immigration forms and prepared a phony lease, the documents said. Serag, Snowden and Shoeib were charged in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud.
There was no answer last night at Shoeib's home, and Snowden's phone appeared to be out of service. A woman who answered the phone at Serag's home said he was in jail and did not have an attorney. The woman declined to be identified.
Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.
