RIVERSIDE, Calif., April 29 (UPI) -- The brother of San Bernadino, Calif., shooter Syed Rizwan Farook and two Russian women pleaded not guilty on Thursday to marriage fraud charges.
The trio appeared at a federal courthouse in Riverside, Calif., hours after being arrested during two raids in nearby Corona and Ontario.
They are 31-year-old Syed Raheel Farook, his 31-year-old Russian wife, Tatiana Farook, and her sister, Mariya Chernykh, 26. All three were released on bail, which was set at $25,000 for Raheel, $35,000 for his wife, and $50,000 for Chernykh.
U.S. Judge David T. Bristow made it clear this was a case of marriage fraud.
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"It is not about acts of terrorism," he said.
The defendants' lawyers insisted that even if the fraud charges were true, their clients were not linked to the Dec. 2 mass killing
"This case is not about the tragedy of December," said Dyke Huish, representing Tatiana Farook. He said the Farook family had "suffered much" for the "horrible, horrible acts" of another family member.
The Farooks' next-door neighbor in Corona said she spoke to the couple after they got home.
"They're very stressed. I am not going to tell you what they said," she told CBS2/KCAL9. "They're great people, and this is just ruining their lives. And they don't deserve that."
The five-count indictment relates to the alleged fraudulent marriage between Chernykh and Enrique Marquez. Marquez, a friend of Syed Rizwan Farook, was charged in December with conspiracy for allegedly acquiring and selling two rifles that police say were used in the Southern California rampage that killed 14.
Although it is unclear how Marquez and his wife met, Syed Raheel Farook stepped in during the woman's citizenship application process to vouch for Marquez by saying he had the financial means to support his new wife.
But other than the marriage certificate Marquez and Chernykh signed in late November 2014, there is little evidence they lived as a real married couple.
In public records, Chernykh shared an address not with Marquez, but with another man, Oscar Romero. On social media, Chernykh and Romero would frequently post images of themselves along with a baby girl, who they would refer to as their daughter.
Chernykh changed her name to Maria Romero on some social media sites two months before her marriage to Marquez and she kept using the name after the marriage. Oscar Romero referred to Chernykh as his wife on another social media account.
The next court appearance for all three is scheduled for June 6 in federal court in Los Angeles.
