Crime & Safety

Police Officer Illegally Obtained Citizenship, Sentenced to Federal Prison

A DeKalb County man who was a police officer in College Park will be deported after his sentence is served.

Devon Campbell, 46, of Ellenwood, who has served with the College Park Police Department since 2011, was found guilty of illegally obtaining his United States citizenship.

He has been sentenced to 10 months in federal prison, and then will be deported from the country back to his native Jamaica, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

“[Campbell] used his fraudulently obtained U.S. citizenship to become a police officer in this country, making a mockery of the very laws he was sworn to uphold,” said Brock D. Nicholson, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Atlanta. “U.S. citizenship is eagerly sought by millions of people across the world, and HSI special agents work hard to maintain the integrity of our system by identifying those like Mr. Campbell who seek to gain it through fraud.”

Campbell lived under the alias Wilmott Alvin Livingston during his time in the United States. In 2000, Campbell lived and worked in Jamaica as a police officer with the Jamaican Constabulary Force. On Nov. 7, 2000, he left and entered the U.S. with a Jamaican passport under the Livingston alias.

On April 19, 2001, Campbell married an American citizen and applied for permanent residency shortly after. The request was granted on Aug. 13, 2004.

Three years later, he applied for citizenship with U.S. immigration services. The application required Campbell to list previously used names. He marked the section as not applicable, authorities said. Campbell became a naturalized citizen on April 11, 2008, and was issued a U.S. passport that same month.

Two months after receiving his citizenship, Campbell and his wife divorced. He remarried eight days later.

Campbell was charged with unlawfully procuring citizenship or naturalization and using a passport secured by false statements.


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