A former Jamaican police officer, who was in the United States illegally, managed to obtain citizenship and get a job in the College Park Police Department, federal authorities said.
Devon Campbell, 46, of Ellenwood, who also used the name Wilmott Alvin Livingston, has been arraigned on a number of charges, including making false statements on his citizenship and passport applications.
Campbell was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday on one count of the following crimes: unlawfully procuring citizenship or naturalization, making false statements in a passport application, misusing evidence of citizenship, and using a passport secured by false statements, a news release said.
When seeking employment, Campbell went back to what he knew, getting a job with the College Park Police Department in 2011. While applying for his Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training certification, authorities say Campbell “falsely claimed to be a naturalized United States citizen and submitted an unlawfully obtained Certificate of Naturalization.”
Campbell, according to authorities, lived in Jamaica until November 2000, when he came to the United States using a passport bearing the name of Livingston and a false date of birth. He lived in the United States, married, divorced and married again, and was granted citizenship under the assumed name, authorities said.
“According to the indictment, over the last 13 years, Campbell has been engaged in a pervasive scheme to deceive U.S. immigration authorities,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in a statement. “Even more boldly, Campbell has used his fraudulently obtained citizenship to become a police officer. Simply stated, the citizens of College Park deserve police officers who will follow the laws that they have been sworn to enforce.”
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