Canadian-American citizen arrested in relation to human smuggling deaths

A Canadian-American citizen has been arrested and detained in relation to a deadly smuggling conspiracy that led to the deaths of a Romanian family of four.

A dual Canadian-American citizen has been arrested and detained by the U.S., accused of being involved in what the U.S. Justice Department says was a deadly human smuggling conspiracy that left a family of four dead in the St. Lawrence River.

The Justice Department said 34-year-old Timothy Oakes from the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation was arrested on June 15 when he attempted to enter the U.S. via the Massena, N.Y., port of entry.

According to the department, he was previously arraigned on numerous human smuggling offences in the Northern District of New York District Court. He had his detention hearing earlier Tuesday and will remain detained in custody.

He was indicted April 9 for conspiracy with others to engage in alien smuggling, four counts of alien smuggling for profit and four counts of alien smuggling resulting in death.

Three U.S.-based co-conspirators entered guilty pleas in the past nine months.

“As alleged, Oakes and his co-conspirators profited from a human smuggling operation with a singular, cold-hearted aim: making money by bringing illegal aliens into the United States, regardless of the danger to human life involved,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the department’s criminal division.

Galeotti said a mother, father and two small children, as well as the brother of one of the defendants, died in the operation.

“Oakes’ arrest comes as part of our nearly two-year long investigation into a transnational criminal organization responsible for the large-scale smuggling of aliens from Canada into the United States,” said Erin Keegan, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI) Buffalo special agent in charge.