A Dominican Republic citizen living in Ontario has been sentenced to three years in prison for illegally transporting noncitizens into the United States by raft across the Niagara River.
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced Wednesday that 53-year-old Silvestre German Andujar received a 36-month sentence for alien smuggling for commercial advantage and private financial gain. U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo handed down the sentence.
On January 3, Andujar piloted a motorized raft from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, into the U.S. carrying three individuals who were not U.S. citizens. Border Patrol agents responded as the group landed and fled the shoreline.
Meanwhile, co-defendant Luis Davis German Soriano, who had driven from New Jersey to pick up the group in Youngstown, was briefly stopped and released by officers before returning to retrieve them. On January 4, agents stopped the van in Ransomville and arrested all four occupants after verifying immigration records.
Soriano was previously convicted and sentenced.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Border Patrol, and the Lewiston Police Department.
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