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Canada-U.S. citizen in custody in deadly St. Lawrence River human smuggling case

  • Timothy Oakes, a 34-year-old dual citizen of Canada and the United States, was taken into custody on June 15 at the Massena port of entry in New York for his involvement in a fatal human smuggling scheme.
  • On April 9, Oakes was formally charged with conspiring with others in the trafficking of undocumented individuals, along with multiple counts related to smuggling for financial gain and smuggling activities that led to fatalities, connected to a cross-border smuggling network operating between Canada and northern New York.
  • In March 2023, Oakes provided shelter for a Romanian family of four for roughly a day before taking them to a boat launch, where his brother Casey attempted to transport them across the St. Lawrence River; unfortunately, the vessel overturned, resulting in the deaths of all five individuals.
  • Matthew R. Galeotti, a Justice Department official, explained that Oakes and those working with him gained financially by running a human smuggling scheme motivated purely by profit, charging around $1,000 per person despite the life-threatening dangers involved.
  • Oakes remains detained following a federal court hearing, while a joint U.S.-Canadian investigation continues to dismantle the smuggling network that caused multiple migrant deaths amid dangerous weather conditions.
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Winnipeg Free Press broke the news in Winnipeg, Canada on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.
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