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Sailors accused of bogus nuptials

They got housing pay boosts, their European "brides" got a foot over the citizenship threshold, and they cohabited never after, say investigators.

By BRADY DENNIS
Published April 12, 2006

TAMPA - Five Navy sailors and a former sailor were arrested Tuesday in Jacksonville on charges that they married European brides in a scheme to increase housing pay for themselves and help the foreign-born women apply for citizenship.

Two other Navy sailors are facing similar charges but have not yet been arrested.

Federal investigators said they learned that the eight sailors, based on the USS Kennedy and USS Simpson, fraudulently married the women to receive an increase in their basic housing allowance.

The basic housing allowance is a tax-free payment that active-duty members of the U.S. military receive to offset housing costs if they do not live on base. It is based on location, marital status and the number of dependents. By claiming they were married, the sailors received extra money in their paychecks.

According to the investigation, one sailor was receiving more than $1,800 a month in housing payments. Prosecutors said the men bilked the government of more than $35,000 during the conspiracy.

Authorities said the seven Polish women and one Romanian woman involved paid fees from $2,000 to $6,000 for the weddings, in hopes that they could petition for U.S. citizenship.

But a Naval Criminal Investigative Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation found that none of the women ever lived with the sailors they married.

The five current sailors, one former sailor and a Polish nanny who have been arrested made their initial appearance in federal court Tuesday afternoon in Jacksonville. They were released by U.S. Magistrate Howard T. Snyder after each signed a $10,000 unsecured bond.

Two other sailors allegedly involved are on deployment with the USS Simpson off the coast of Italy.

"Procedures are in place to arrest them," said Steve Cole, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Authorities also plan to arrest the other seven women in the case. "They are in the process of locating them," said Cole, who said the women are living in different places around the country.

Public records in Duval County obtained by the Times on Tuesday show that at least three of the marriages took place during two weeks in June 2005.

The three women, ages 26, 29 and 30, listed residences in Florida, Illinois and New York, respectively.

Cole said one sailor, who was Polish, initially approached another sailor about the scheme.

"The two of them started recruiting other sailors," Cole said. "I really don't want to go further than that."

Four of the men face charges of conspiracy to enter into a fraudulent marriage and conspiracy to present false claims to the government. They are Isaac Gordon Bell, 22, of Susanville, Calif.; Joe Conn, 23, of Little Rock, Ark.; Isidro Cruz III, 22, of Newark, N.J; and Horatio Alexander King, 34, of San Diego.

Another sailor, Ryan Timothy Dodge, 22, of Joliett, Ill., faces one charge of conspiracy to enter into a fraudulent marriage.

Former sailor Timothy Richard McNomee, 21, also made his initial appearance on the two charges, as did Monika Kubaczka, 27, who works as a nanny in Ponte Vedra Beach. The two were married on March 4, 2005, but never lived together, officials said.

The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for April 27 in Jacksonville. If convicted, the sailors could face up to five years' imprisonment for each count.

Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report, which used information from the Associated Press.

[Last modified April 12, 2006, 01:06:10]