PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A Massachusetts man has been convicted of arranging sham weddings between people from Maine and Africans seeking to become legal residents of the United States.
A federal judge found 37-year-old Rashid Kakande (kah-KAHN’-dee) of Woburn, Mass., guilty on Thursday, after a four-day trial.
He is charged with arranging payments of up to $5,000 for Mainers willing to marry people from Uganda and other African countries who were in the United States with expiring tourist or student visas.
He’s accused of arranging 15 marriages between 2003 and 2007. Most of the weddings were held in apartments in Lewiston.
He faces up to five years in prison.
The Portland Press Herald says another man also has been charged but is now missing after allegedly jumping bail.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
