Kansas City woman guilty in fake marriage to African man

A Kansas City woman who married a Kenyan man so he could stay in the United States has pleaded guilty to violating U.S. immigration law.

Traci R. Porter, 44, was one of six Kansas City residents indicted by a federal grand jury in Kansas City last year as part of the marriage fraud conspiracy.

Porter and other women were paid to marry African men so they could obtain permanent residency in the United States, according to the indictment.

A 48-year-old Kansas City man, Delmar Dixon, allegedly arranged marriages between men from Kenya and Tanzania and U.S. citizens. Federal prosecutors allege Dixon charged the Africans $1,000 to introduce them to their spouses.

The African men were then required to pay the U.S. citizen $500 at the time of the wedding, $500 after the completion of the wedding and $250 each month until the immigration process was complete, according to court documents.

Porter married a man from Kenya in June 2008, according to the documents.

But the marriage was annulled after immigration officials discovered that he was still married to another woman in Africa. After he obtained a divorce from his Kenyan wife, he and Porter were re-married in December 2011.

She falsely claimed to immigration officials that they were living together in Olathe, when she actually lived in Kansas City.

A sentencing date for Porter has not been set.

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 8:29 AM with the headline "Kansas City woman guilty in fake marriage to African man."