More charges expected against the mastermind of an immigration scam

Additional charges are expected to be levied against Marleny Castellanos, the alleged master-mind behind an immigration scam involving residents of Caye Caulker and San Pedro. Castellanos is already facing sixteen counts of assisting persons to use documents they weren’t entitled to use. She and her common-law husband, Wilfredo Gonzalez Marcos, remain on remand behind bars at the Belize Central Prison as the immigration scam continues to unfold.  Last week, eight persons were charged for having fraudulent documents, and tonight seven others have been detained and charged for being in possession of nationality certificates and birth certificates which they are not entitled to. The Guatemalan, Salvadoran and Honduran nationals came forward when the news broke that Castellanos had been charged for providing fake documents.  The group includes Jenny Patricia Arita, Francisca Lopez, Rudy Juarez Mendez, Mario Anibal Raymundo, Juan Lobos Castellanos, Fredy Lopez and Luis Flores. They had altered their names using stolen Belizean identities and claimed to have Belizean parents. Late this afternoon, six were arraigned and charged for two counts of using documents they were not entitled to, but Francisca Lopez was charged with only one count of the immigration offense.  They all pleaded guilty and were fined one thousand dollars each plus costs of court. The group is assisting in the investigation against Castellanos and so an expulsion order was not issued. As we said the scheme continues to unfold and so far it is not known how many persons were assisted by Castellanos.