{"id":2224,"date":"2026-07-30T20:41:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T20:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=2224"},"modified":"2026-07-30T20:41:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T20:41:35","slug":"national-guard-officer-forged-records-and-stole-public-money-to-facilitate-secret-second-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=2224","title":{"rendered":"National Guard officer forged records and stole public money to facilitate secret second marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A National Guard officer carried out a secret second marriage to a woman he met while posted in Mongolia, using a government travel card and forged documents to facilitate the double life, U.S. prosecutors allege.<\/p>\n

Read more Palestinian authorities ask Supreme Court to halt $656M judgment pending appeal<\/a><\/p>\n

Maj. Collin Welch, 40, pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing about $54,000 in government money and inducing the Mongolian woman and her daughter to remain in the U.S. unlawfully. He\u2019s awaiting sentencing in U.S. District Court in Washington. <\/p>\n

Welch made a fake divorce decree to convince his second wife that he was no longer married to his first, according to a statement he signed as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. After moving her to the United States, he forged other government records to convince her that she was in the pipeline for U.S. citizenship and legally staying in the country. <\/p>\n

Two deployments \u2014 to Afghanistan and Djibouti \u2014 and years spent away from his family put a strain on Welch, his lawyer, Gregory Rosen, said in a statement. <\/p>\n

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\u201cNone of that changes the fact that Major Welch accepts full responsibility for his actions,\u201d Rosen said. \u201cThat alone speaks louder about his character than any statement of offense, standing alone, ever could.\u201d<\/p>\n

The affair began in 2019, when Welch was with the Alaska National Guard and stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It continued after he returned to Alaska in 2021 and moved to Arkansas the next year. They were married in 2022 in Mongolia. <\/p>\n

Read more Takeaways from AP story on child soldiers trained by Colombian mercenaries in Sudan<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2023, Welch moved to Washington with his family for a role with the District of Columbia National Guard that required extensive foreign travel. He used his government travel card to rent hotel rooms in the Washington area for video calls with his second wife, so she wouldn\u2019t know he was living with his family. <\/p>\n

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He also submitted false reimbursement expenses and lied to his superiors to get authorization for foreign travel to visit the Mongolian woman, according to the statement filed in court. <\/p>\n

Welch charged the government for plane tickets for the Mongolian woman and her daughter to move to the United States in 2024. He married her again in Virginia, falsely saying he had never been married before. He paid for their living arrangements in Northern Virginia until they were evicted late last year when he tried to pay the rent with forged checks. <\/p>\n

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During that time, Welch knew the woman and her daughter had expired tourist visas but faked a variety of records to convince them otherwise. Those included letters from immigration authorities, Social Security cards and a Defense Department letter purporting to say the immigrants were enrolled in military health coverage. <\/p>\n

Read more AP Exclusive: Child soldiers recount horrors of Sudan\u2019s war and presence of Colombian mercenaries<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A National Guard officer has pleaded guilty to leading a double life, marrying a woman he met in Mongolia while still married in the U.S. Prosecutors allege Maj. Collin Welch used a government travel card and forged documents to facilitate his actions. Welch admitted Tuesday to stealing $54,000 in government funds and inducing the woman and her daughter to stay in the U.S. unlawfully. He awaits sentencing in Washington. Welch allegedly faked a divorce decree and other documents to convince the woman she was legally in the U.S. His lawyer says Welch struggled from the strain of two deployments and years spent away from his family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nNational Guard officer forged records and stole public money to facilitate secret second marriage - Top Moving Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=2224\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"National Guard officer forged records and stole public money to facilitate secret second marriage - Top Moving Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A National Guard officer has pleaded guilty to leading a double life, marrying a woman he met in Mongolia while still married in the U.S. Prosecutors allege Maj. Collin Welch used a government travel card and forged documents to facilitate his actions. Welch admitted Tuesday to stealing $54,000 in government funds and inducing the woman and her daughter to stay in the U.S. unlawfully. He awaits sentencing in Washington. 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