National Guard Officer Pleads Guilty to Bigamy, Government Theft, and Immigration Fraud

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.

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’s awaiting sentencing in U.S. District Court in Washington.

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.

Two deployments — to Afghanistan and Djibouti — and years spent away from his family put a strain on Welch, his lawyer, Gregory Rosen, said in a statement.

“None of that changes the fact that Major Welch accepts full responsibility for his actions,” Rosen said. “That alone speaks louder about his character than any statement of offense, standing alone, ever could.”

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.

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't know he was living with his family.

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.

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.

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.