Sacto 9-1-1

Authorities said the scheme involved foreign nationals from Eastern Europe and Russia who paid up to five-figure fees to enter into sham marriages with locally recruited U.S. citizens in an effort to legalize their immigration status.

For foreign nationals, marriage to an American citizen is one means of obtaining lawful permanent residence in the United States. To initiate that process, those who are outside the country must apply for a fiance visa that enables them to travel to the United States to marry the citizen spouse. Alternatively, foreign nationals who are already in the United States and entered the country legally may wed here and apply for lawful permanent residence based upon the marriage. Upon entering the United States, they might also apply for political asylum.

According to affidavits filed in this case, in 2002, Potepalov arranged with Keith O'Neil to enter into a sham marriage with a Russian national who had been denied naturalization in 2009. Between 2003 and 2005, O'Neil accompanied Potepalov on three trips to Moscow and filed petitions for fiance visas for four other foreign nationals. The women were from Russia, Uzbekistan and Armenia, according to the news release, and all of the petitions were ultimately denied. In 2007, O'Neil entered into a second sham marriage with a Romanian national.

The other defendants charged in the indictment include six foreign nationals who allegedly attempted to obtain fiance visas and "green cards" through the scheme and six local U.S. citizens who allegedly agreed to "marry" the foreign nationals in return for promised payments of up to $5,000.

In June 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations agents executed federal search warrants at Potepalov's home and business, seizing numerous boxes of documents relating to immigration applications as well as computer files. Documents filed in the case revealed that participants in the scheme went to significant lengths to make the sham marriages appear legitimate, such as posing for wedding pictures together, establishing apartments in both spouses' names and rehearsing false answers for interviews with immigration officials.

The investigation into Potepalov's activities began in 2006 after Homeland Security Investigations agents received information from the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service indicating that Potepalov was filing fraudulent visa petitions on behalf of Russian and Ukrainian nationals. As the investigation progressed, HSI agents worked closely with personnel from the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Service's Fraud Detection and National Security Unit in Sacramento to identify foreign nationals who may have sought to benefit from the scheme, authorities said.

Among the remaining defendants:

• Keith O'Neill, 46, of Sacramento, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

• Marla Brennan, 32, of Sacramento, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in prison and six months of home confinement.

• Richard Vargas, 40, of Sacramento, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

• Olga Nekrasova, 27, of San Francisco, pleaded guilty and was deported after serving four months in prison.

• Brian Barnes, 33, of Sacramento, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 months in prison.

• Marlena Colvin, 29, of Sacramento, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 months of home confinement.

• Anthony Rivera, 37, of Sacramento pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

• Veranika Koushal, 34, of West Palm Beach, Fla., pleaded guilty to making false statements and is awaiting sentencing.

The charges against the following defendants are allegations only, according to authorities:

• Pavel Berezenko, 55, of Sacramento, is scheduled for a status conference on March 28.

Authorities said four other defendants are fugitives: Aleksandr Krivokhizhin, 40, of Southampton, Mass; Yuriy Korzhov, 49, of Roseville; and Alina Turcan, 27, and Dumitru Sisianu, 27, both of Jacksonville, Fla.