Overview

• On July 1, Oakes was arraigned in the Northern District of New York and ordered detained following his June 15 arrest at the Massena port of entry on charges of conspiracy to engage in alien smuggling, four counts of profit-based smuggling, and four counts resulting in death.
• Court filings portray Oakes as a central facilitator who piloted boats across the St. Lawrence River and used his Akwesasne Reservation home as a staging area, earning roughly $1,000 for each migrant.
• The April 9 indictment caps a two-year ICE HSI and Joint Task Force Alpha investigation into a transnational human smuggling ring whose March 2023 boat capsize drowned a Romanian family and Oakes’ brother Casey.
• U.S.-based co-defendants Dakota Montour, Kawisiiostha Celecia Sharrow, and Janet Terrance have all pleaded guilty to transporting the Romanian family despite hazardous weather conditions.
• Oakes remains in federal custody pending trial as the Justice Department’s Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force continues to target networks exploiting the Canada–U.S. border corridor.