A former Mercer Island resident who stole more than $220,000 from immigrants after promising them immigration help, was sentenced to 16 months in prison on Friday in Seattle’s U.S. District Court.
U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones also ordered 62-year-old Dalia Ivette Singh — who is also known as Dalia Pena and now a resident of Clearwater, Florida — to pay $222,900 in restitution for four counts of wire fraud.
Singh pleaded guilty to the charges in October 2015.
During the sentencing hear, Jones called Singh’s behavior “predatory” and that she preyed on those “least able to defend themselves… Her sole purpose was to take money from people who could least afford it,” according to a news release.
According to court records, between 2008 and 2011, Singh defrauded more than 40 immigrants from the Caribbean and Latin America. She charged some families as much as $36,000, claiming she had a contact with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) who could provide the immigrants with legal status in the United States.
Singh claimed her USCIS contact ran a special program the immigrants could use to get legal status. However, federal officials said there was no such program and that Singh fabricated the story to defraud the victims.
Singh’s fake program required enrollment of a group of people, not just individuals, so she encouraged victims to recruit more people to enroll with them. In one instance, she defrauded approximately 30 church members out of nearly $100,000 with her false promises.
“Those who choose to capitalize on the fear of deportation to victimize immigrants and undermine our nation’s legal immigration system will be held accountable for their actions,” said Shawn Fallah, resident agent in charge of ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility in Seattle, in the news release. “We will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement counterparts to investigate criminals and imposters who manipulate and exploit the system for their own personal gain and see that they are brought to justice.”
U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes said Singh “not only stole money from vulnerable immigrants, she created false hopes and destroyed dreams. This case is a reminder that there are imposters who prey on those who fear deportation. As this case demonstrates, members of our immigrant communities can safely reach out to law enforcement to report these kinds of scams and frauds, and be assured that those responsible will be held to account.”
