The DA said Monique…
By Alex Davidson
A 26-year-old Richmond Hill woman was accused July 9 of taking part in a scheme in which she and six other women allegedly lied to the city clerk so they could marry several times, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said.
The DA said Monique Figueroa of 116-17 91st Ave. was charged with perjury and offering a false instrument for filing on three separate marriage applications she made at the City Clerk’s Office between Sept. 14, 1999 and July 17, 2002. She is also charged with falsifying business records on a different application she made in 2002, Morgenthau said.
Figueroa faces up to four years in prison if convicted, the DA said.
Sherry Hunter, spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, could not comment on how often people file for multiple marriage licenses.
Morgenthau said in a release that Figueroa married several different men from the Dominican Republic, India and Pakistan.
The other defendants in the case are Dezerrie Cortes, 40, Maria Davis, 26, and Chera Yvette Larkins, 32, Morgenthau said. Three other brides, two of whom are still not in police custody, each falsely filed one application in 2002 for marriage licenses saying that they had never been married before although city records on file documented previous marriages.
Cortes, Davis and Larkins all live in Manhattan, the DA said.
When applying for marriage licenses in the city, an applicant must disclose any previous marriages and then sign a form that says the information is true, the DA said. Only once did one of the seven women, who together filed for 43 separate licenses, admit to having been married before, Morgenthau said.
The charges thus stem from the women not mentioning their previous marriages.
Cortes is alleged to have applied for 27 licenses between 1984 and 2002 in her marriages to men from Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Pakistan and other unnamed countries, the DA said.
Davis is alleged to have married several men from Trinidad and St. Lucia, while Larkins made applications without disclosing alleged earlier marriages to husbands from Nigeria and other African nations, Morgenthau said.
Reach reporter Alex Davidson by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156
