Grand jury indicts pair in Des Plaines nun scam

A federal grand jury in Milwaukee has returned a three-count indictment against a Chicago couple accused of posing as destitute Kenyan refugees and scamming Carmelite nuns in Pewaukee out of more than $800,000.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michelle Jacobs announced the indictment Tuesday charging 35-year-old Angela Martin-Mulu and 39-year-old Edward Bosire with mail fraud. The two Kenyan citizens arrived in the U.S. in 1999 and received political asylum in 2007.

The indictment said the two targeted religious orders by claiming they suffered from illnesses and needed money for medical bills or education, at the same time maintaining apartments in Chicago and Bolingbrook, Ill., and spending much of the money at casinos or on things unrelated to medical or educational expenses.

An FBI affidavit has said the married couple first visited the Pewaukee monastery in December 2004 and told the nuns they were brother and sister, homeless and would be killed if they were deported to Kenya. Prosecutors said the nuns gave them cash and checks over a three-year period, totaling about $815,000 before the scheme was discovered.

Sister Mary Agnes has said the money came from the nuns' health fund, and she declined to say how much of the fund had been depleted. She said the nuns don't have health insurance because it's too expensive.