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Timothy Oakes Arraigned and Detained in Fatal St. Lawrence River Smuggling Case

The hearing marks the latest step in a two-year probe that exposed a cross-border smuggling network responsible for multiple drownings in the St. Lawrence River

Searchers look for victims Friday, March 31, 2023 after a boat capsized and left six people dead and one infant missing in Akwesasne, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
FILE - The U.S. Department of Justice logo is seen on a podium before a press conference with Attorney General Pam Bondi, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, at the Justice Department in Washington.
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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.