Overview
- Stacey Taylor pleaded guilty Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, to conspiracy to engage in alien smuggling and four counts of alien smuggling for profit and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 3, 2026.
- Federal prosecutors say a Jan. 20, 2025 Border Patrol stop near Churubusco, New York, found four men in Taylor’s vehicle who had just crossed the U.S.–Canada border on foot in freezing weather.
- Investigators examined Taylor’s phone and say it contained coordinates and pickup instructions tied to the January stop, and she admitted she expected payment for transporting the migrants.
- Phone records and texts that prosecutors cite link Taylor to multiple other pickup events, and she was stopped or implicated again in suspected smuggling incidents in August and September 2025.
- The case was investigated and prosecuted with support from Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol, and Joint Task Force Alpha, which focuses on leaders and significant facilitators of transnational human smuggling.