Bessemer Woman Charged with Making False Statement to Federal Agents
| U.S. Attorney’s Office March 28, 2012 |
BIRMINGHAM—Federal prosecutors today charged a Bessemer woman for lying to federal agents conducting a criminal investigation, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Maley.
In a one-count criminal information filed in U.S. District Court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged HADAM BENACHOU with making a false statement to special agents of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. Benachou told agents that her husband, Saleem Abdul Rasheed, was not married to another woman, but she knew he had married Saida Mohamed Hussein, according to the information.
If convicted, BENACHOU, 30, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Rasheed pleaded guilty March 19 to falsely claiming a woman as his wife on immigration forms and to food stamp fraud. He is scheduled for sentencing in federal court July 12.
The FBI and Homeland Security investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael W. Whisonant, Sr. is prosecuting the case.