Indictments lays out details behind alleged marriage sham

A five-count federal indictment alleges a web of conspiracy and lies to cover up an alleged sham marriage between a Russian woman and a Riverside man who is charged with conspiracy and supplying two assault-type rifles used in the Dec. 2 terrorist massacre in San Beardino.

The charges, filed secretly Wednesday, were aounced Thursday following the arrests of Syed Raheel Farook, 31, of Corona; his wife, Tatiana Farook, 31, of Corona; and her sister, Mariya Cheykh, 26, of Ontario.

Cheykh married Enrique Marquez Jr. in November 2014. Marquez was a neighbor of the Farook family when they lived on Tomlinson Avenue in Riverside.

Marquez is separately indicted with a terrorism conspiracy charge and two illegal gun purchases linked to the Dec. 2 attack. He also was charged with two counts of entering into a sham marriage with Cheykh.

The conspiracy

The new indictment claims the three defendants lied on documents and to federal agents to cover up the real purpose of the marriage — to allow Cheykh to apply for permanent residence in the United States. She originally entered the country on a three-month visa in July 2009.

Marquez, who is named as a co-conspirator, had an agreement in which Cheykh would pay him $200 a month for a year for the marriage, agents said.

The defendants claimed Cheykh and Marquez lived together as husband and wife from November 2014 to December 2015, sharing a home on Forum Way in Corona with Syed Raheel Farook and Tatiana Farook.

In fact, the couple lived apart, with Cheykh in Ontario with the father of her child, the indictment says.

The conspiracy count carries a maximum possible sentence of five years in federal prison.

Cheykh

The next four charges name only Cheykh as a defendant.

She is charged with perjury for allegedly lying on her immigration application to adjust her visa status after the marriage; submitting the application while knowing it was false; and lying twice to FBI agents that she and Marquez lived together in Corona as husband and wife — once on Dec. 9, 2015, and again on Feb. 19.

The four combined charges carry a maximum possible sentence of 25 years in prison.

A $50 wedding band

The indictment lists a number of actions federal agents claim the defendants took to accomplish the conspiracy. Among them:

• Posing for photographs in late November 2014 “to create the false impression” that the marriage was legitimate”

• A Dec. 25, 2014 waing from Tatiana to her sister not to post on social media pictures of Cheykh with the father of her child

• Marquez and Cheykh in early November 2015 discussing in electronic messages “their mutual anxiety for their upcoming immigration interview due to the lack of contact with each other.

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• Marquez stating on social media Nov. 5, 2015 that he was involved in terrorist plots and might go to prison for fraud

• The creation among the defendants on Dec. 1, 2015 of a back-dated lease agreement that claimed Cheykh and Marquez had lived at the Forum Way address in Corona since November 2014

Tatiana Farook and Cheykh, also on Dec. 1, 2015 — the day before the San Beardino shooting — purchased a $50 wedding band for Marquez at a Riverside store.