Dual Canadian-American citizen Stephanie Square, 52, of the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation (AMIR), Canada, made her initial court appearance in Plattsburgh, New York, on Friday, after being extradited from Canada.
She faces charges stemming from her alleged role as the U.S.-based leader of an alien smuggling organization (ASO) connected to a deadly incident in March 2023 that left a Romanian family of four, including two small children, dead in the St. Lawrence River.
A federal grand jury in the Northern District of New York returned an indictment against Square in June 2024, charging her with conspiring to engage in alien smuggling, four counts of alien smuggling for profit, and four counts of alien smuggling resulting in death.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti, Acting U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III, and HSI Special Agent in Charge Erin Keegan announced the court appearance, which followed Square’s arrest in Canada in August 2024 at the request of the U.S. government, highlighting the extensive coordination between U.S. and Canadian law enforcement.
Court documents allege that Square’s ASO regularly smuggled aliens across the U.S.-Canada border via the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation. During the week of March 27, 2023, a Canadian smuggler allegedly contacted Square to arrange the smuggling of the Romanian family across the St. Lawrence River.
Despite one recruited co-conspirator refusing to proceed due to the dangerous high winds that night, Square allegedly enlisted her regular driver, Dakota Montour, to transport the family to co-conspirator Timothy Oakes’ residence on Cornwall Island, a known staging area for such operations.
The family arrived at Oakes’ residence on March 29, 2023, at approximately 3:35 AM. Later that evening, at about 9:29 PM, Oakes’ vehicle was recorded towing a light blue boat away from his residence toward a public boat launch.
That same evening, between 10:09 PM and 10:50 PM, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service (AMPS) received multiple calls from citizens on Cornwall Island reporting cries for help on the St. Lawrence River, along with reports of terrible weather.
Simultaneously, Square allegedly instructed Montour to search the riverbanks for the missing family, and then, in the early hours of March 30, 2023, she instructed Montour to delete all their messages. The next day, between March 30 and 31, 2023, AMPS conducted a riverine search, recovering the bodies of the Romanian family of four and Oakes’ light blue boat. The body of the boat captain, Case Oakes, was found eight months later.
The prosecution of Square is part of the coordinated efforts of Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), a partnership between the Justice Department and Homeland Security (DHS) dedicated to targeting cartels and transnational criminal organizations involved in human smuggling.
Co-conspirator Timothy Oakes, 34, from the AMIR, was arrested on June 15, 2025, and remains detained. U.S.-based co-conspirators Dakota Montour, Kawisiiostha Celecia Sharrow, and Janet Terrance previously entered guilty pleas in late 2024 and early 2025.
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