Chandrakant Patel

Introduction

Chandrakant Patel, a businessman from Oakdale, Louisiana, was sentenced to ten years in federal prison on November 9, 2026 for running a visa fraud scheme in which he paid local public servants to falsely certify foreign nationals as victims of crimes that never happened . Patel pleaded guilty in May 2026 to conspiracy to commit visa fraud and engaging in monetary transactions involving property derived from unlawful activity, and upon completion of his sentence he will be removed from the United States . Four co-conspirators — all described in court documents as public servants acting in leadership roles in their communities — were sentenced to five years each for preparing the false paperwork his scheme depended on .

Background Information

According to court documents, the scheme ran from about November 2020 to July 2025 . Patel, then a local businessman, recruited foreign nationals who were seeking legal status in the United States and accepted payments to have them falsely identified as victims in fictitious armed robbery reports . He then paid Tebo Onishea, Chad Doyle, Michael Slaney and Glynn Dixon — the four public servants — to prepare false police reports and certify immigration documents used to support fraudulent U-Visa applications . The false paperwork was the scheme’s foundation: the “victims” whose status it supported had never been robbed at all.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted and sentenced. The ringleader received 120 months in federal prison and faces removal from the United States; four public servants received sixty months each for their roles.

Patel pleaded guilty to the charges on May 28, 2026, and United States District Judge Jerry Edwards Jr. sentenced him to 120 months in federal prison on November 9, 2026 . The four co-conspirators who sold their authority to the scheme were sentenced separately across late 2026 . Tebo Onishea, of Glenmora, was sentenced in September 2026 to sixty months for conspiracy to commit visa fraud, followed by two years of supervised release; he had pleaded guilty on May 28, 2026 . Chad Doyle, of Oakdale, was sentenced on September 15, 2026, to sixty months and ordered to pay a $30,000 fine, followed by two years of supervised release, after a May 2026 guilty plea .

Michael Slaney, 65, also of Oakdale, was sentenced on September 16, 2026, to sixty months with a $30,000 fine and two years of supervised release, having pleaded guilty on May 12, 2026 . Glynn Dixon, 63, of Forest Hill, was sentenced in November 2026 to sixty months with a $30,000 fine and two years of supervised release; Dixon had pleaded guilty on June 30, 2026 . The through-line of the case is that the false documents at the heart of the immigration fraud were not forgeries by outsiders but official police reports and certifications prepared by people holding public trust in their own small communities .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The case removed five people from their community roles at once: a businessman now headed to a decade in federal prison, and four public servants — described in court documents as acting in leadership roles in their communities — now convicted felons serving five-year sentences with fines and supervised release . The sentencing of the last co-conspirator, Dixon, landed in November 2026, closing out the scheme’s cast two years after its final documented acts . Each of the five convictions rested on guilty pleas entered between May and June 2026, resolving the case without trial .

Current Status

Patel is serving his 120-month sentence and, per the sentencing, will be removed from the United States upon completion . Onishea, Doyle, Slaney and Dixon are each serving sixty-month sentences with two years of supervised release, and Doyle, Slaney and Dixon each owe $30,000 fines . The fraud itself ran from roughly November 2020 until July 2025, meaning the fake police reports and certifications were being generated for nearly five years before the convictions .

Impact on Their Career/Life

For Patel, the sentence ends his life as an Oakdale businessman and, with the ordered removal, ends his ability to remain in the country whose immigration system he exploited . For the four convicted public servants, federal felony convictions for conspiracy to commit visa fraud turn whatever standing their leadership roles carried into a record of selling false police reports for cash — a betrayal of public trust documented in their own court filings and now the public record of their communities .

Sources

• KEDM Public Radio, “Oakdale visa fraud scheme ringleader sentenced to 10 years in Federal Prison; four co-conspirators also sentenced to five years each,” November 11, 2026 — source