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A major in the District of Columbia National Guard pleaded guilty Tuesday to an elaborate scheme that combined bigamy, immigration fraud, and the theft of approximately $54,000 in government money to maintain a secret second marriage to a Mongolian woman he met while deployed overseas.
Maj. Collin L. Welch, 40, of Arlington, Virginia, admitted to unlawfully inducing aliens to enter and remain in the United States and to theft of government funds. The D.C. Superior Court ordered his release with conditions while awaiting sentencing scheduled for December 3, 2026, requiring him to surrender his passport and remain within the United States.
The scheme began in 2019 when Welch, then stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, began a romantic relationship with a Mongolian national despite being legally married. To pursue the relationship, Welch fabricated a divorce decree, falsely convincing the woman that he was no longer married. In 2022, while still legally married to his first wife, Welch married the Mongolian woman in Mongolia.
The deception continued to escalate. In 2024, Welch brought the Mongolian woman and her minor daughter to the United States on tourist visas. That same year, he married the woman a second time in Virginia while remaining legally married to his first wife. When the tourists’ visas expired in early 2025, Welch did not allow the matter to end. Instead, he fabricated an extensive series of government documents designed to make the woman believe she was in the process of obtaining permanent residency and United States citizenship.
The forged documents Welch created included fake permanent residency approvals, counterfeit Social Security cards, and fraudulent letters falsely indicating military dependent health benefits. Despite creating these documents, he never filed any of them with actual government agencies. These fake materials were designed solely to deceive the woman about her legal status in the country.
To fund the woman and her daughter’s travel and living expenses, Welch systematically abused his government travel card. He submitted fraudulent travel vouchers and fabricated receipts for hotel stays and rental car services that never occurred. He also used the card without authorization to pay for the woman and her daughter’s living expenses and personal travel. His government computer was used to create the supporting false documentation.
Welch worked for the D.C. National Guard’s State Partnership Program, which coordinates military-to-military engagements with foreign forces and often requires members to travel for official purposes. Prosecutors allege that he lied to obtain authorization for trips that had no official purpose, misusing his position to facilitate his personal scheme.
The fraud extended further when the undocumented dependents were evicted from an apartment that Welch had leased for them in May 2025 after they failed to pay rent. Welch attempted to pay the outstanding balance with forged checks. Despite the eviction in November 2025, he continued to support the woman and her daughter through at least March 2026.
Court documents reveal that Welch previously served in both the Alaska and District of Columbia National Guard with deployments to Afghanistan and Djibouti. Two lengthy military deployments away from his family contributed to strain in his personal life, according to his attorney Gregory P. Rosen. “None of that changes the fact that Maj. Welch accepts full responsibility for his actions,” Rosen said in a statement.
The case has drawn attention to broader vulnerabilities within the military. Over the past five years, military personnel have repeatedly appeared in marriage fraud and immigration schemes. In Jacksonville, Florida, investigators uncovered a conspiracy involving eleven individuals, including Navy sailors and reservists, who were recruited to participate in paid sham marriages with Chinese nationals seeking green cards. Some conspirators also attempted to gain base access through these fraudulent arrangements.
As part of his guilty plea, Welch agreed to forfeit $54,000 to the United States. The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Investigations Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Babu Kaza prosecuted the case.
