A soldier from Kansas, in the United States, will spend 10 months in federal prison for entering into a sham marriage with a Jamaican woman, so he could get additional military benefits and his wife could become a legal American immigrant.

According to a report on www.huffingtonpost.com, Joshua Priest pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and wire fraud, and testified against his Jamaican wife, Shannakay Hunter.

Hunter was convicted in August of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and lying to the US government.

She will be sentenced on November 26.

Priest testified at his wife's trial that the couple had not personally met until she came to Kansas to get married, telling jurors that they had never lived together.

A US federal judge today rejected the prosecution's request for leniency for the soldier saying it was not justified.

The judge also ordered Priest to pay almost US$2.7 million in restitution for the housing and subsistence benefits he fraudulently obtained as a married soldier.