Fraud charged in marriage in Ethiopia

Kim Smith

Thursday, Dec. 2, 1999 | 10:46 a.m.

A Las Vegas woman was indicted Wednesday in the recruiting of a local woman to travel to Ethiopia to marry a man so he could become a U. S. citizen.

According to U.S. District Court records, Rebecca Gaddis divorced her husband and accepted $3,000 to marry Minichl Admasu Abetew at the behest of Abetew's former sister-in-law, Yeshi Admasu.

Admasu asked Gaddis to marry Abetew in June 1998 and then flew with her to Ethiopia on Nov. 24, 1998, according to the indictment. The marriage took place on Dec. 1, 1998.

Admasu was indicted on four counts -- two counts of false statements, conspiracy and marriage fraud. Each count is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Rebecca Gaddis was unavailable for comment this morning. She was not named in the indictment.

The indictment also states that Admasu caused Gaddis to present fraudulent Immigration and Naturalization Service forms to the U. S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and to the INS office in Laguna Niguel, Calif.

According to INS statistics, the Las Vegas office of the INS investigated 61 fraud cases in fiscal year 1999, a 54 percent increase over the number of cases investigated five years ago.

Steve Usiak, assistant officer in charge of the Las Vegas INS office, said fraud cases could involve people who purposely marry in order to gain entry into the United States, people who lie on their visa and green card applications, and those who use fake immigration documents.