Article content
A woman from Akwesasne is in custody and is wanted in the U.S. on a warrant alleging she was involved in a human smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of eight people who drowned while they were being brought across the Canada/U.S. border last year.
Stephanie Square, 51, was arrested recently after the extradition request was filed earlier this month. She is detained while her case is pending before Quebec Superior Court at the Montreal courthouse.
Article content
“U.S. authorities are investigating an alien smuggling organization (the Square Human Smuggling Organization) in New York State, which led to the death of a Romanian family, including two minors, on or about March 29, 2023,” the U.S. government alleged in an affidavit seeking Square’s arrest as well as two other people.
Florin Iordache, his wife, Cristina (Monalisa) Zenaida Iordache, their two-year-old daughter, Evelin, and one-year-old son, Elyen, were among the eight people who drowned near the end of March last year.
“On March 27 through March 29, 2023, the Square (organization) co-ordinated a smuggling event in which a Romanian family died while attempting to cross the St. Lawrence River.”
The affidavit says that a co-operating witness was approached by Square on March 28, 2023 and that she tried to recruit him to be a boatman for the operation. The witness said he rejected Square’s offer “because the weather was too bad.” The evening temperatures recorded over the next two days were below freezing and wind speeds were recorded at above 45 km/h.
The co-operating witness told investigators that after her offer was rejected, Square offered the man $5,000 for a boat.
Article content
The investigation includes text messages obtained through cellphone records that show Square hired a driver to transport the Romanian family from mainland Cornwall to Cornwall Island. The family was then brought to a property on the Mohawk reserve. The family’s destination was Plattsburgh, N.Y., but they never made it.
The text messages indicate the smuggling effort did not go well at all and was improvised.
At one point, the driver texted someone else and appeared to complain about Square after a boat they planned to use “died.”
“This is a f–king shit show she’s got me driving around Cornwall with them said she was gonna call me back in a second cause I might have to pick up loot,” the affidavit states.
On July 3, 2023, the body of Casey Oakes, the man believed to have tried to smuggle the eight people across the border, was found near Ross Island, 13 kms away from where the bodies of the eight victims were located.
The affidavit alleges that Square resumed smuggling operations after the tragedy.
The extradition case returns to the Montreal courthouse next week.
This report will be updated.
Recommended from Editorial
Share this article in your social network