{"id":6767,"date":"2014-10-21T18:38:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T01:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767"},"modified":"2014-10-21T18:38:15","modified_gmt":"2014-10-22T01:38:15","slug":"former-immigration-officer-took-bribes-sentenced-four-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767","title":{"rendered":"Former Immigration Officer Who Took Bribes Sentenced to Four Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ICE<\/a>SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA<\/strong> \u2013 A former immigration officer who was found guilty of taking bribes from Cambodian immigrants in exchange for immigration benefits, including granting the immigrants temporary legal status, has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guildford sentenced Billy Louis Nelms Sr<\/strong>., 54, of Los Angeles, to four years and three months in prison on Monday.<\/p>\n

During the federal court proceeding Monday, Judge Guilford called the corruption offenses a \u201cdisappointment,\u201d noting that \u201cwe live in a cynical time where people are not believing in their government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Guilford also stated that Nelms\u2019 corrupt actions sent a poor message to immigrants, essentially telling them: \u201cPay the man, get the result.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following a seven-day trial, a federal jury on August 1 found Nelms guilty of conspiracy to commit bribery and defraud the United States, bribery, conspiracy to witness tamper and witness tampering.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese corrupt actions challenged the integrity of an immigration system Mr. Nelms had sworn to uphold,\u201d said Acting U. S. Attorney Stephanie Yonekura.<\/p>\n

Adding, \u201cMr. Nelms may have believed that he was above the law, but the prison sentence imposed (Monday) shows that everyone will be held accountable for their illegal actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nelms\u2019 wife, Sokhon Nelms,<\/strong> 60, also of Los Angeles, also was found guilty of \u00a0conspiracy to witness tamper and witness tampering for threatening two witnesses at\u00a0 the behest of her husband. Sokhon<\/p>\n

Nelms is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Guilford on November 6.<\/p>\n

The evidence at the couple\u2019s trial showed that, between 2005 and August 2008, Billy Nelms worked in the Santa Ana federal building as an immigration officer in the\u00a0 Fraud Detection and National Security unit, which is part of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.<\/p>\n

As part of his job, Nelms was involved in, among other\u00a0 things, investigating marriage fraud on applications for an immigration benefit.<\/p>\n

The bribery scheme involved Cambodian immigrants who were present in the U.S. without legal status and promised permanent legal status by Nelms.<\/p>\n

The \u00a0immigrants paid as much as $5,000 in cash, and, in exchange for this, Nelms stamped \u00a0immigration documents that gave the immigrants temporary legal status in the United \u00a0States \u2013 but not the permanent status they sought<\/p>\n

After Nelms was indicted on bribery charges in June 2013, \u00a0Nelms and his wife tampered with two of the witnesses in the bribery case.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA \u2013 A former immigration officer who was found guilty of taking bribes from Cambodian immigrants in exchange for immigration benefits, including granting the immigrants temporary legal status, has been…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[948],"class_list":["post-6767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-immigration-bribes"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Immigration Officer Who Took Bribes Sentenced to Four Years<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA \u2013 A former immigration officer who was found guilty of taking bribes from Cambodian immigrants in exchange for immigration benefits,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Immigration Officer Who Took Bribes Sentenced to Four Years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA \u2013 A former immigration officer who was found guilty of taking bribes from Cambodian immigrants in exchange for immigration benefits,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-22T01:38:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/U.S.-Citizenship-Application.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"201\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6767#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6767\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Former Immigration Officer Who Took Bribes Sentenced to Four Years\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-22T01:38:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6767\"},\"wordCount\":399,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6767#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/U.S.-Citizenship-Application.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Immigration Bribes\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Home Main Slider\",\"U.S. Department of Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6767#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6767\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6767\",\"name\":\"Former Immigration Officer Who Took Bribes Sentenced to Four Years\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6767#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6767#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/U.S.-Citizenship-Application.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-22T01:38:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA \u2013 A former immigration officer who was found guilty of taking bribes from Cambodian immigrants in exchange for immigration benefits,\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6767\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6767#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/U.S.-Citizenship-Application.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/06\\\/U.S.-Citizenship-Application.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":201},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former Immigration Officer Who Took Bribes Sentenced to Four Years","description":"SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA \u2013 A former immigration officer who was found guilty of taking bribes from Cambodian immigrants in exchange for immigration benefits,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former Immigration Officer Who Took Bribes Sentenced to Four Years","og_description":"SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA \u2013 A former immigration officer who was found guilty of taking bribes from Cambodian immigrants in exchange for immigration benefits,","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2014-10-22T01:38:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":201,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/U.S.-Citizenship-Application.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Former Immigration Officer Who Took Bribes Sentenced to Four Years","datePublished":"2014-10-22T01:38:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767"},"wordCount":399,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/U.S.-Citizenship-Application.jpg","keywords":["Immigration Bribes"],"articleSection":["Home Main Slider","U.S. Department of Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767","name":"Former Immigration Officer Who Took Bribes Sentenced to Four Years","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/U.S.-Citizenship-Application.jpg","datePublished":"2014-10-22T01:38:15+00:00","description":"SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA \u2013 A former immigration officer who was found guilty of taking bribes from Cambodian immigrants in exchange for immigration benefits,","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6767#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/U.S.-Citizenship-Application.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/U.S.-Citizenship-Application.jpg","width":300,"height":201},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6768,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6767\/revisions\/6768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}