Man from Kenya living in Oklahoma pleads guilty to falsely claiming US citizenship

MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A man from Kenya, and currently living in Oklahoma, pleaded guilty Wednesday to falsely claiming U.S. citizenship on an official federal form.

This guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Mark F. Green, Eastern District of Oklahoma.  The charge arose from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The indictment alleged that on Dec. 12, 2012, Titus Ombina Aboge, 32, a citizen of the Republic of Kenya, and an alien in the United States, while living in Ada, Oklahoma, falsely and willfully represented himself to be a U.S. citizen on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9. The defendant was indicted on the charge in June 2016.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven P. Shreder accepted Aboge’s guilty plea and ordered the completion of a presentence report.  Sentencing will be scheduled following its completion.

The statutory range of punishment is not more than three years imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Hammer, Eastern District of Oklahoma, prosecuted this case.