Missouri man, West Texas woman plead guilty to marriage fraud conspiracy

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Ukrainian national, living in central Missouri, and a West Texas woman have both pleaded guilty in federal court to their roles in a marriage fraud conspiracy.

These guilty pleas resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the Jefferson City (Missouri) Police Department.

Oleksandr Nikolayevich Druzenko, aka “Alex,” 35, a Jefferson City resident, pleaded guilty Aug. 20 to conspiracy to commit marriage fraud. Co-defendant Patricia Anne Ewalt, 63, of El Paso, Texas, pleaded guilty to the same charge Aug. 5.

Druzenko and Ewalt were married June 22, 2007 in Jefferson City. Druzenko is a Ukrainian national who entered the United States on a student visa in August 2004 and attended college in Missouri and elsewhere. He was employed at the Missouri Office of Administration in Jefferson City at the time of his Oct. 3, 2012 indictment.

In 2007, since Druzenko’s student visa was expiring and he would soon have to leave the United States. After two failed attempts to persuade U.S. citizens to marry him so that he could remain in the country, Ewalt agreed to marry him.

Druzenko and Ewalt, along with co-conspirators James Douglas Barding, 62, of Jefferson City, and Darya Chernova, 40, a citizen of Ukraine who currently resides in Chandler, Arizona, entered an agreement to unlawfully deceive USCIS in matters regarding immigration and naturalization. According to the plea agreement, they conspired to arrange a fraudulent marriage between Druzenko and Ewalt so that he could remain in the United States in violation of U.S. law.

Druzenko and Ewalt falsely claimed that they resided together.  They each admitted that they knowingly submitted documents that were materially false to deceive USCIS adjudicators into believing their marriage was genuine. They also admitted that they submitted fraudulent documents so Druzenko could receive U.S. permanent resident status.

Barding and Chernova previously pleaded guilty to their roles in a marriage fraud conspiracy aimed at enabling Chernova, with whom Barding had a long-running affair, to remain in the United States to seek citizenship.

As a result of his fraudulent marriage to Ewalt, and the submission of false material statements to USCIS, Druzenko obtained U.S. permanent resident status that he was not entitled to, and should not have been allowed to remain in the country.

Under federal statutes, Druzenko and Ewalt are each subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the U.S. Probation Office completes its presentence investigations.

Druzenko’s guilty plea may affect his immigration status because this conviction is considered a deportable offense. Deportation and other immigration consequences are the subject of a separate proceeding; however, since he pleaded guilty, his removal is presumptively mandatory.