Rosa (second from left) in tears after her sentencing
Photo: Stefan Jeremiah
[From article]
A former Washington Heights assemblywoman was sentenced to a year in jail Friday for participating in a sham marriage that allowed her to become a US citizen.
Manhattan federal Judge Denise Cote scolded a sobbing Gabriela Rosa — the first Dominican-born woman ever to be elected to the state Assembly — as she issued the jail sentence, saying she didn’t buy Rosa’s claims of breaking the law to follow “the American dream.”
Cote also said Rosa’s actions are “really a disservice to all the immigrants who actually try to follow the law and gain citizenship.”
[. . .]
Rosa paid $8,000 in 1996 to a US citizen to engage in the fraudulent nuptials while she maintained a romantic relationship with another man. She claimed the sham marriage was out of “desperation” to not be separated from the man she really loved, Victor Estrella.
The feds say Estrella, a convicted drug dealer and a fellow Dominican native, wasn’t a US citizen at that time.
Rosa and Estrella are now married and share a son.
Rosa also pleaded guilty in June to making false statements in a 2009 personal-bankruptcy filing. She failed to include Estrella’s earning and omitted her ownership of a co-op apartment.
http://nypost.com/2014/10/03/former-assemblywoman-sentenced-to-year-in-jail-over-sham-marriage/
Former assemblywoman sentenced to year in jail over sham marriage
By Rich Calder
New York Post
October 3, 2014 | 1:15pm
[From article]
A former Washington Heights assemblywoman was sentenced to a year in jail Friday for participating in a sham marriage that allowed her to become a US citizen.
Manhattan federal Judge Denise Cote scolded a sobbing Gabriela Rosa — the first Dominican-born woman ever to be elected to the state Assembly — as she issued the jail sentence, saying she didn’t buy Rosa’s claims of breaking the law to follow “the American dream.”
Cote also said Rosa’s actions are “really a disservice to all the immigrants who actually try to follow the law and gain citizenship.”
[. . .]
Rosa paid $8,000 in 1996 to a US citizen to engage in the fraudulent nuptials while she maintained a romantic relationship with another man. She claimed the sham marriage was out of “desperation” to not be separated from the man she really loved, Victor Estrella.
The feds say Estrella, a convicted drug dealer and a fellow Dominican native, wasn’t a US citizen at that time.
Rosa and Estrella are now married and share a son.
Rosa also pleaded guilty in June to making false statements in a 2009 personal-bankruptcy filing. She failed to include Estrella’s earning and omitted her ownership of a co-op apartment.
http://nypost.com/2014/10/03/former-assemblywoman-sentenced-to-year-in-jail-over-sham-marriage/
Former assemblywoman sentenced to year in jail over sham marriage
By Rich Calder
New York Post
October 3, 2014 | 1:15pm
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