San Bernardino massacre yields second immigration fraud conviction

[Valin]

Reuters:

Steve Gorman | LOS ANGELES

Jan. 26 2017

 

The Russian-born wife of the California man accused of supplying guns used by another couple who killed 14 people in San Bernardino pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal immigration fraud charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

 

Mariya Chernykh, 26, became the second person convicted in an immigration fraud scheme linked to the December 2015 massacre by Syed Rizwan Farook and his Pakistani-born wife, Tashfeen Malik, who authorities said were inspired by Islamic extremism.

 

The man she admitted paying to marry her, Enrique Marquez Jr., is charged with furnishing two assault rifles used in the shooting rampage by Farook, a U.S. native of Pakistani descent, and Malik, whom he married in 2014 in Saudi Arabia.

 

The couple were killed in a gunfight with police four hours after the massacre.

 

Marquez also is accused of having plotted with Farook to stage similar shooting attacks in the suburbs east of Los Angeles in 2011 and 2012 that were never carried out. He is scheduled to go on trial on Sept. 26.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Guilty Plea In San Bernardino Case
John Hinderaker
February 14, 2017

This news story probably won’t get as much attention as it deserves, but it is interesting on several levels: “Man to plead guilty to aiding San Bernardino attack.”

 

 

 

Enrique Marquez Jr., 25, of Riverside, admitted in a plea agreement that he bought the assault rifles [sic] used by Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, in the Dec. 2, 2015, attack at a public health agency gathering that left 14 people dead and injured nearly two dozen others. Farook and Malik were later killed in a gunfight with authorities.

***

Prosecutors said Marquez acknowledged being a “straw buyer” when he purchased two AR-15 rifles from a sporting goods store that were used in the attack at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. Prosecutors have said Marquez agreed to buy the weapons because the attackers feared Farook’s Middle Eastern appearance might arouse suspicion. Prosecutors said there is no evidence Marquez participated in the San Bernardino massacre or had advance knowledge of it.

 

(Snip)

 

 

Rizwan Farook was an American citizen, born in Chicago. His wife, Tashfeen Malik, was an immigrant from Pakistan. I haven’t seen any information on Marquez’s citizenship, but he moved to Riverside in 2005 and subsequently committed immigration fraud by entering into a sham marriage with a member of Farook’s family. There is a lot of “diversity” here, but also a common denominator: Islam.