NEW YORK (AP) - Two people have been indicted on charges of bilking dozens of immigrants out of thousands of dollars by falsely promising to help them get a "green card" based on an exemption available to religious workers. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau alleged that Christopher Pendarvis, 64, and Ereline Simmons, 61, swindled at least 50 and perhaps 100 people out of sums ranging from a few hundred dollars to as much as $8,000. Morgenthau said Pendarvis ran a company called Immigration Business Consultants, and Simmons operated a non-denominational church called St Barbara of Sardis out of her home. Both the business and the church have shut down, he said. Simmons, a Guyanese native known to her congregation as "Mother Bishop", sent people to Pendarvis, who was born in the United States, for help in getting green cards, which would allow them to work legally in this country, the district attorney said. Morgenthau said most of the victims were from Guyana, Jamaica, Belize, St Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago, and some were members of Simmons' church. He said that in addition to Pandarvis' fees, the victims paid her $250 to $500 for "sponsoring" them. There is an exemption for some immigrant religious workers, Morgenthau said. He said it is based on the similar right that other nations give American religious groups to work in their countries as missionaries. Morgenthau said Pendarvis and Simmons actually took no steps to get work documents for the immigrants. "None of the paperwork was filed and nobody got a green card," he said. Morgenthau said immigrants generally are "easy prey" for this kind of scam and he is hoping other victims, legal or illegal immigrants, will contact his office. "We want to assure victims that if they come forward, we will not refer them to immigration authorities," the district attorney said. "We want to get the word out that people who prey on immigrants will be prosecuted." Both defendants were charged with first-degree scheme to defraud and third-degree grand larceny, Morgenthau said. Both crimes are punishable by up to seven years in prison upon conviction. SOURCE: JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM