Man avoids jail time for sham marriage immigration schemes

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts man who entered into six sham marriages to help foreign-born women skirt U.S. immigration laws has avoided prison.
Federal prosecutors say 58-year-old Peter Hicks, of Worcester, was sentenced Tuesday to two years’ probation after an emotional plea to avoid prison. The government had asked for an 18-month term.
He pleaded guilty in September to one count of marriage fraud because the statute of limitations had run out on the first five.
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