San Bernardino shooter’s family members arrested

Federal agents arrested the brother of San Bernardino terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook on Thursday, along with the man’s wife and her sister, during searches at two southern California locations.

Farook’s brother, Syed Raheel Farook, was arrested along with his wife Tatiana at his house in Corona, Calif., the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a statement.

{mosads}In Ontario, Calif., agents arrested Tatiana’s sister, Mariya Chernykh, who is married to a man awaiting trial on charges of conspiring with Farook to support terrorists in 2011 and 2012.

All three were charged with federal conspiracy, marriage fraud and false statement charges.

The charges against Syed Raheel Farook and his wife carry maximum sentences of five years in prison. The ones against Chernykh, which also include perjury and marriage fraud, could send her to jail for up to 25 years.

U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker on Thursday called the arrests “the latest step in the comprehensive investigation into the horrific attacks” last year, which killed 14 people. Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were killed in a shootout with police after carrying out the violence at a county facility.  

“Today’s arrests open a new phase in the process of bringing to justice all individuals who allegedly committed crimes that were uncovered during our exhaustive investigation,” Decker added.

According to the Justice Department, the cases against the three people arrested Thursday developed out of the San Bernardino investigation.

In the course of the federal probe into the attack, which officials say was inspired by Islamic extremists, officials discovered that Farook’s friend and neighbor, Enrique Marquez, agreed to a sham marriage with Chernykh to keep her in the U.S., they claimed.

Syed Raheel Farook and his wife Tatiana allegedly aided in that plot by serving as witnesses to the marriage and taking other steps to cover up the sham, such as helping the pair open a joint bank account.   

Marquez was arrested in December for plotting a pair of attacks with Farook in 2012, which were never carried out.