PD on the Defense for ‘Sham’ Marriage

A former chief public defender in St. Louis was indicted today on charges he arranged a "sham marriage" so that his boyfriend could stay in the United States.

Prosecutors announced the indictment, which was reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The former PD, Eric Affholter, 40, and his live-in boyfriend Pedro Cerna-Rojas, 31, of Peru, reportedly "recruited" another PD -- Assistant Public Defender Collette Lewis -- to marry Cerna-Rojas in 2004 so that he could stay in the country, prosecutors allege.