A National Guard officer has pleaded guilty to charges of stealing approximately $54,000 in government funds and facilitating the unlawful presence of a woman and her daughter in the United States, actions undertaken to support a secret second marriage. Maj. Collin Welch, 40, admitted to these charges in U.S. District Court in Washington, where he is awaiting sentencing.
Prosecutors allege Welch, who was stationed in Mongolia, began an affair in 2019 with a woman he met there. To conceal this relationship and facilitate a second marriage, Welch created a fraudulent divorce decree to convince the Mongolian woman he was legally free to marry. After bringing her to the U.S. in 2024, he allegedly continued to forge government documents, including letters purporting to be from immigration authorities and the Defense Department, to assure her and her daughter that they were legally residing in the country and had access to military health coverage, despite their tourist visas having expired.
Welch’s defense attorney, Gregory Rosen, stated that Welch accepts full responsibility for his actions. He attributed Welch's conduct in part to the strain of two deployments to Afghanistan and Djibouti, and years spent away from his family.
During his assignment with the District of Columbia National Guard in 2023, which involved extensive foreign travel, Welch allegedly used his government travel card to book hotel rooms near Washington D.C. He reportedly used these rooms for video calls with his second wife, aiming to hide his cohabitation with his first family. He also submitted falsified expense reports and lied to superiors to obtain authorization for travel to visit the Mongolian woman.
Further allegations include Welch purchasing plane tickets for the Mongolian woman and her daughter to come to the United States. He reportedly remarried the woman in Virginia, falsely stating he had never been married before. He provided for their living expenses in Northern Virginia until late last year, when they faced eviction after Welch attempted to pay rent with forged checks.
Welch enlisted in the National Guard and served in various roles, including postings in Alaska and Arkansas before his assignment in Washington D.C.