8 sailors are charged in arranged marriages

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Eight sailors were charged Tuesday with arranging sham marriages to Polish and Romanian women in a scheme to help the women obtain U.S. citizenship and collect bigger military housing allowances for themselves.

An investigation by Naval Criminal Investigative Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement found that none of the women lived with the sailors they married.

In all, the eight sailors received $35,000 in fraudulent basic housing allowance payments, investigators said. One sailor was allegedly getting $1,836 per month.