'Green Card Marriage' ad nets arrest

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- At least she was being honest.

Yuliya Kalinina, 24, spelled out exactly what she was looking for in a husband in her Internet ad:

"Green Card Marriage -- Will pay $300/month. Total $15,000," the Russian national wrote in an ad placed on the Craigslist Web site. "This is strictly platonic business offer, sex not involved."

The ad caught the attention of the man who would eventually marry her on February 17, 2006. But it also alerted agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Kalinina, from Russia, and her husband, Benjamin C. Adams, 30, were arrested last week for what federal prosecutors allege was a sham marriage.

Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of ICE investigations in Los Angeles, said it is the first criminal case he is aware of in which people allegedly used the Internet to engineer a sham marriage for a green card. Watch as the Craigslist ad for a husband lands the woman in trouble »

Attorney Dale Rubin, who is representing Kalinina, said she didn't know it was illegal to marry for a green card, which he said was evidenced by the blatant language in her ad.

Adams' attorney, public defender John Littrell, declined to comment to the Los Angeles Times. E-mail to a friend

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