TAMPA - Dozens of Nigerians have been marrying U.S. citizens at the Hillsborough County Courthouse of late, but federal prosecutors say love's got nothing to do with it.
The couples are said to be part of a sham immigration conspiracy that resulted in the indictment and arrest of five people Tuesday. Immigration authorities say the investigation is continuing.
An undercover male investigator working to infiltrate the ring even married one defendant, Resty Nakawesa. The marriage wasn't valid, but Nakawesa didn't know that, officials said.
The ring operated for at least two years in Tampa and involved at least 59 sham marriages, according to the indictment and statements made in court Tuesday by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eduardo E. Toro-Font.
According to the May 3 indictment that was unsealed Tuesday, the conspirators recruited Americans and paid them to participate in sham marriages with immigrants for the purpose of helping them legalize their immigration status.
Toro-Font described defendant Patrick Aboyomi Thomas as the "leader and organizer" of the ring.
Thomas, who has been married three times and divorced twice, is a notary public and a naturalized U.S. citizen who Toro-Font said gained his citizenship through a sham marriage.
Thomas, Nakawesa and the other defendants - Maria Akhoutor, Marjorie Watt and Elizabeth Pitt - entered innocent pleas during the arraignments.
Thomas' attorney in the federal public defender's office was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.
