Marleny Castellanos and Alfredo Marcos Walk Off Immigration Charges

For several months, we have reported on an alleged immigration scam which was suspected to be masterminded by Marleny Castellanos, aided by her husband Alfredo Marcos, both Guatemalan nationals residing in Belize. Over all, about a hundred residents from Caye Caulker and other areas obtained documents for residency and nationality under the scheme. The first allegations came to light in May of this year and Castellanos and her husband were charged with ten immigration offenses for providing documents such as voter’s identification and Social Security cards, nationality certificates and temporary border crossing permits to persons who are not entitled to it. Today, Castellanos and her husband appeared in court, but their trial ended when the prosecution did not present sufficient evidence to prove the offenses. That is, despite submitting copies of the forged birth certificates and originals which shows that the persons were Guatemalans, Magistrate Dale Cayetano dismissed the charges against the couple.  The first to be freed of six charges was Marcos; this afternoon the charges were withdrawn against Castellanos. The trial lasted for three weeks in the Magistrate court. Castellanos’ sixty-eight-year-old mother was called to testify but she told the court that she was asked to visit the Immigration office over the weekend, but she had no idea why.  She also said she knew nothing of the allegations. According to Castellanos’ attorney, Kevin Arthurs, however, Marleny’s mother was forced to give a statement and that she had no knowledge that the statement was against her daughter. But while those set of charges have been withdrawn, the office of the D.P.P. is considering pursuing thirty-two other charges for aiding and abetting persons to use documents they are not entitled to.  When the couple appeared in court in May, they pleaded guilty to four of six charges, but came back to the court and changed their guilty plea to not guilty and were able to secure bail from the Supreme Court.  On the fourth of June, Castellanos was charged with eighteen counts of aiding and abetting the nationals to obtain nationality.  One week later, she was charged additionally with twenty counts of aiding persons to obtain Belize Birth Certificates and Nationality documents.