A former soldier must repay the federal government $200,000 for benefits he received during a fraudulent marriage scheme in which he pocketed money for housing, medical benefits and cost of living payments from the Army, Department of Justice officials said.
Andre Fulton II, 30, was sentenced in federal court last week after pleading guilty to theft of government money. A federal judge sentenced him to three months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $200,000 in restitution. Fulton must also pay a $100 fine.
Fulton enlisted in the Army in October 2014 and served as a human resources specialist until November 2023 when he left the Army as a private. He deployed to Poland from May 2018 to February 2019, officials said. The Privacy Act and Department of Defense policy prevents the Army from releasing information about Fulton’s “characterization of service at discharge,” Army spokesperson Bryce Dubee told Task & Purpose.
Fulton pleaded guilty to entering a fraudulent marriage in 2018 with a woman named as his co-conspirator. As a result of the scheme, Fulton’s co-conspirator maintained her immigration status in the U.S. and the soldier received at least $202,039.27 for housing allowance, medical expenses and cost of living adjustments from the Army.
Fulton entered the fraudulent marriage in January 2018 while he was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. At the time, his wife filed an application to change her immigration status based on the fraudulent marriage. As part of a plea agreement, Fulton admitted that “he knew the purpose of the fraudulent marriage” was to help his co-conspirator “evade the immigration laws” to remain in the U.S., according to a Department of Justice press release.
Accepting benefits for scam marriage
Fulton joined the Army in 2014 and was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas until 2019, court documents show.
Fulton married the woman, who the DOJ did not name, in Texas on Jan. 26, 2018. The woman had previously married another man and they both received B-2 non-immigrant visas in 2016. They divorced less than a year later, according to court documents.
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In February 2019, during an interview for the wife’s immigration status change, Fulton said “that he did not care if the marriage was a fraud and that he loves his wife.” A month later, the wife gave birth to a daughter in Texas. Fulton is listed as the father on the child’s birth certificate, according to court documents.
In May 2019, Fulton was transferred to Fort Shafter, Hawaii, with his wife and the five-month-old girl and Fulton submitted paperwork “falsely” claiming that the two were living with him as dependents, the DOJ said. However, Army investigators visited the address Fulton provided and found that the property had been demolished, zoned for commercial use and occupied by a tinting business, according to court documents.
In September 2019, Fulton requested a Cost of Living Adjustment, or COLA, rate change for a new address with his dependents. After contacting the apartment management company, officers with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s fraud directorate found that Fulton had lived there for less than two months with two roommates who were also in the Army. The woman’s name was not listed on the lease or in the computer system. The manager also said that Fulton and his Army roommates were asked to move out after an incident involving police, court documents show.
Eventually, Fulton admitted to investigators that the marriage was a sham since he and the woman were not romantically involved and never lived together, the DOJ said. In 2022, Fulton told DHS fraud officers that he had received between $2,500 and $5,000 to marry the woman and had met her previous husband “so they could feel comfortable knowing him,” according to court documents. Fulton admitted to casually dating other women during the marriage while taking pictures with the woman to submit to immigration.
“While the United States appropriately confers significant benefits upon our military personnel for their service, it does so with the understanding that such benefits will be not exploited or misused,” U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors said in a release. “Defendant Fulton exploited his position with the United States military.”