Collin Welch, a major in the US National Guard, pleaded guilty to immigration fraud and theft of public funds. The 40-year-old officer was found to have committed these crimes while serving in his unit in Washington, DC.
Welch's story began in 2019 when he met a Mongolian woman while serving at the US Embassy in Mongolia. Although married, he told the woman he was divorced and married her in Mongolia in 2022.
The major later brought the woman and her daughter to the US on tourist visas, and in 2024 he married the same woman a second time while still married to his first wife. After their visas expired, he prepared numerous forged documents, lying to the woman that she was in the process of obtaining US citizenship.
These fake documents included social security cards, permanent residency approval notices, and a letter authorizing health benefits for a military family. However, none of these documents were submitted to official authorities.
Welch also used an official bank card to show fake expenditures to cover the housing, car rental, and travel expenses of the woman and her daughter. It was determined that he embezzled a total of approximately $54,000 in public funds this way.
The US Attorney's Office announced on July 28 that Welch pleaded guilty to charges of immigration fraud and theft of public funds.