Federal authorities arrested three Louisiana police chiefs accused of taking part in a scam to help hundreds of illegal immigrants gain legal status by selling them bogus documents that falsely claimed they were victims of armed robberies.

The migrants then used the fabricated reports to apply for “U” visas, also known as victim visas, which can convert illegal immigrant victims and their families into legal residents.

The scam ran for a decade, and the chiefs charged $5,000 for each bogus crime report they produced for the migrants, according to the indictment handed up earlier this month in a federal court in Louisiana.

“In fact, the armed robberies never took place and those listed in the applications were never victims of crimes,” said acting U.S. Attorney Alexander Van Hook.

He said there were “hundreds” of bogus victims whose applications were approved.

“That adds up. The $5,000 per name adds up,” he said.

The three chiefs accused are Chad Doyle, chief of police in Oakdale; Glynn Dixon, chief of police in Forest Hill; and Tebo Onishea, former chief in Glenmora. They are all towns northwest of Lafayette.

Also indicted were Chandrakant Patel, owner of convenience stores in Oakdale, who authorities said was the coordinator who recruited the migrants and paid the chiefs for the bogus reports; and Michael Slaney, a member of the Marshal’s Office in Oakdale.

No lawyers were listed for any of the defendants in online court records Wednesday.

A message left with Oakdale’s police department wasn’t returned.

Forest Hill Mayor Elizabeth Jeter said in a statement that she was “deeply saddened” by the case.

“In times like this, it is important for us to remain united, uphold our shared values and allow due process to take its course,” she said.

U visas are highly sought by illegal immigrants because of their value as a path to legal status — and consequently, they are a major target for fraud.

Homeland Security’s inspector general in 2022 found that the program, which is run by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, approved applications even though they had forged signatures, or where the crime reports themselves were altered to make the crimes appear more significant.

But fabricating crimes is still a common scam, and armed robbery is a standard.

In one case last year, authorities busted a ring that staged robberies at convenience stores across the eastern U.S., warning store owners ahead of time — and paying them off for their involvement.

In the new Louisiana case, prosecutors said the scammers skipped over the actual robberies themselves and paid the police chiefs to make it all up.

That led to a shocking number of out-of-state people showing up as reported armed robbery victims in central Louisiana, Mr. Van Hook said.

Authorities said the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office cooperated in the investigation, arranging to sell a bogus police report to Mr. Patel to get evidence against him.

Mr. Patel was being detained Wednesday.

The other four defendants were granted pretrial release.

Only 10,000 U visas can be granted each year, but the number of victim applications is not limited. Purported victims filed more than 40,000 applications last year, and the backlog as of March stood at nearly 250,000 victims and another 165,000 family members.

Authorities did not say whether any consequences have befallen the migrants who filed the fraudulent applications.

USCIS didn’t respond to an inquiry for this story.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.