FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - A Honduran woman living in Arkansas has been sentenced to eight years in prison for defrauding people living in the U.S. illegally.
Wendy Espinoza was sentenced Friday in federal court in Fayetteville after pleading guilty in September to wire fraud and mail fraud. In exchange for her plea prosecutors dismissed additional wire and mail fraud charges, a Social Security fraud charge and a count of creating a false immigration document.
Prosecutors say Espinoza told people living in the U.S. illegally that she could help them obtain legal status because she worked with an immigration attorney - when in fact she has no legal training and was never associated with an immigration attorney. Prosecutors say those who failed to pay her fee were threatened with arrest, deportation and losing custody of their children.
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