A Woodridge man has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for staging robberies to help others fraudulently apply for immigration visas.
Parth Nayi, 29, organized and participated in hundreds of staged armed robberies at coffee shops, restaurants, liquor stores and gas stations throughout the country, including in Chicago, Lombard, Elmwood Park, St. Charles, Hickory Hills, River Grove, Lake Villa and South Holland.
Nayi worked with others to recruit fake victims, pay off store owners to use their locations, coordinate and pay fake robbers, and coach the bogus victims through the plan. Thousands of individuals who posed as victims each paid Nayi between $5,000 and $30,000 to participate in the scam so that they could later apply for Non-immigrant U-Visas, which are set aside for foreign nationals who are victims of certain crimes and are helpful to law enforcement in the investigation…