US Customs and Border Patrol agents arrive to escort US Customs and Border Patrol Gregory Bovino from federal court in Chicago (AP/ File Photo) A 42-year-old woman from New York was charged for allegedly helping smuggle people, mainly from India, into the United States across the border with Canada, news agency PTI reported.
According to the report, Stacey Taylor from Plattsburgh appeared in court this week after a federal grand jury in Albany charged her in October for her role in the smuggling network.
US court records say Border Patrol agents stopped Taylor’s vehicle near Churubusco, close to the Quebec border, in the early hours of January. Officers found four men inside her car: three Indian nationals and one Canadian, who had crossed into the US illegally and without inspection.
When officers checked her mobile phone, they found text messages suggesting she had taken part in several other smuggling trips in the days before.
Taylor has also been linked to another smuggling incident as recently as September this year.
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According to the indictment, she faces one charge of conspiracy to smuggle migrants and four counts of smuggling for profit. Three of those counts are listed as “second or subsequent offences”.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti said in the statement that each count of smuggling for profit carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, with more time possible for repeated offences, PTI reported.
