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W.Va. couple faked marriage for citizenship

July 08, 2008 @ 12:06 PM

Herald-Dispatch.com

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia man said he was trying to help a friend by entering into a sham marriage with a Guyanese woman who wanted to become a U.S. citizen.

Jonathan Cobun and Joycelyn Carol Grenada both pleaded guilty on Monday in U.S. District Court in Clarksburg to fraud charges.

The Morgantown residents each face up to five years in prison, although probation is possible. Judge Irene Keeley will likely sentence the pair in October.

Grenada has lived in the United States since coming here on a visitor’s visa in 1987. She works as a taxi driver.

Cobun and Grenada married in 2005 but never lived together. They lied about their relationship in federal papers and in an interview with immigration officials in Pittsburgh.