MONTREAL — A dual American-Canadian citizen has pleaded guilty for his role in a human smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of eight migrants in the St. Lawrence River in 2023. The U.S.
MONTREAL — A dual American-Canadian citizen has pleaded guilty for his role in a human smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of eight migrants in the St. Lawrence River in 2023.
The U.S. Department of Justice says 35-year-old Timothy Oakes pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling, to four counts of alien smuggling for financial gain, and to four counts of alien smuggling resulting in death. The department says Oakes, who is from the Akwesasne Mohawk territory straddling the Canada-U.S. border, was a key facilitator in the smuggling operation that left a Romanian family of four dead while trying to cross the river to the United States.
A total of nine people drowned after their boat capsized during the trip, including the Romanian couple and their two young children, a family of four from India, and Oakes's brother, Casey Oakes. The justice department says Timothy Oakes decided to send the Romanian family across the river with his brother despite dangerous weather conditions that included high winds and freezing temperatures.
In a news release, the department says Oakes will be sentenced on Sept. 11 and faces between five years and life in prison. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2026. Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press
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