San Bernardino Shooting: Marquez Paid $200 A Month For ‘Sham Marriage’

Marquez Paid $200 A Month For 'Sham Marriage'
FBI agents raided and searched the Riverside home (pictured) of Enrique Marquez, neighbor and childhood friend Syed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife killed 14 people in a mass shooting in California on Wednesday. Part of the garage door was torn apart and a window to the garage was broken at the house during the 1 a.m. raid by federal agents in Riverside, California on December 6, 2015. Marquez is believed to have purchased two of the guns used in the massacre. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UP

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif., Dec. 18 (UPI) — Enrique Marquez was allegedly paid $200 a month to enter into a “sham” marriage to San Bernardino, Calif., shooter Syed Rizwan Farook’s Russian sister-in-law, a criminal complaint indicates.

Marquez was arrested Thursday on weapons charges related to a Dec. 2 mass shooting at a San Bernardino social services center which killed 14 people and injured 17. The 37-page criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for Central California also detailed a confession by the 24-year-old that he entered into a false marriage with a Russian woman whose sister is married to Farook’s brother.

Marquez told federal investigators “he was paid to enter into a sham marriage” with the woman, identified as “M.C.” in the document, in order to get her immigration benefits.

Marquez said Farook’s brother told him M.C. “was having problems with her immigration status and needed to get married in order to stay in the United States.”

The complaint indicates Marquez and M.C. lived at different addresses, M.C. with her boyfriend, the father of her child. Marquez and M.C. had a joint bank account in which $200 was deposited each month, and the two shared text messages worrying about an “interview.”

In one such message, M.C. tells Marquez to “relax” because “[i]f they decline me its [sic] my problem not yours.”

Marquez responds, “[t]he only reason why we’re anxious is because we haven’t hung out that much.”

“They appear to be coordinating their responses to questions and issues that may arise during the interview, including employment and insurance information,” the complaint reads.

Meanwhile, interviews with Marquez’s family members revealed they weren’t aware he was married.

In addition to weapon and conspiracy to support terrorists charges, Marquez faces an immigration fraud charge for his marriage to M.C.

The complaint also details that Marquez and Farook bonded over a love for Islam but moved to radical Islamic ideologies. They made plans for 2012 attacks at Riverside Community College and on State Road 91 in Riverside but got cold feet after four unrelated men in the area were arrested in connection to a terrorism-related plot.

The court documents detail Marquez’s relationship with Farook, who died in a shootout with police after the Dec. 2 massacre. They show Farook showed interest in Muslim extremism years before he and wife Tashfeen Malik met online and plotted the attack on the Inland Regional Center. Investigators said Marquez purchased two of the weapons used in the shooting

Marquez told investigators he and Farook learned to make bombs from Inspire magazine and he bought smokeless powder used in pipe bombs.

“While there currently is no evidence that Mr. Marquez participated in the December 2 attack or had advance knowledge of it, his prior purchase of the firearms and ongoing failure to warn authorities about Farook’s intent to commit mass murder had fatal consequences,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here