Canadian Arrested For Role In ‘Deadly Alien Smuggling Conspiracy’ That Killed A Family Of Four

A Canadian-American dual citizen was arrested this week for his role in a smuggling ring that left a family of four, including two children, dead.

Timothy Oakes, 34, was part of a group that would smuggle migrants across the St. Lawrence River into New York, the Justice Department says. He routinely hosted migrants in his home on the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation, which borders the river, before ferrying them across on his boat.

In May 2023, he hosted a young Romanian family with a one-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter. Oakes’ brother attempted to ferry them across the border, despite weather reports of dangerous conditions including “high winds, freezing temperatures, and limited visibility”. Their boat capsized, killing all five of them.

“He 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 Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

“Their greed resulted in the deaths of a mother, a father, and two small children, as well as one of the defendants’ own brothers. The Criminal Division will continue to disrupt and dismantle these organizations and bring justice to smugglers whose actions result in senseless deaths.”

Oakes, who made $1,000 for every immigrant he shuttled,  was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations in June when he tried to cross into New York. He had previously been arraigned numerous times for human smuggling offenses by a New York District Court.

He has been indicted for “conspiring with others to engage in alien smuggling, four counts of alien smuggling for profit, and four counts of alien smuggling resulting in death.”

Oakes’ three United States-based co-conspirators — Dakota Montour, 31, Kawisiiostha Celecia Sharrow, 43, and Janet Terrance, 45 — have all pleaded guilty.

“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 ICE agent Erin Keegan.

The investigation is ongoing and involves cooperation between multiple American and Canadian agencies. It is part of “Operation Take Back America,” a Trump Department of Justice initiative that “marshals the full resources of the DOJ” to combat illegal immigration and transnational crime.