a loss that will be felt forever by their family and the North Country community,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Anthony Patrone of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Buffalo Field Office. “In response to this tragedy, HSI Massena and our federal, state, tribal, and Canadian partners worked tirelessly to dismantle this deadly smuggling organization, sending a clear message that those who endanger lives at our border will be identified, brought to justice, and removed from our communities.”
According to court documents, Rahsontanohstha Delormier, also known as “Storm,” 31, from the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Territory in Canada, was a boat driver for a human smuggling organization (HSO) that smuggled aliens from Canada into northern New York. Delormier, working with the HSO, routinely smuggled aliens into the United States by piloting boats across the St. Lawrence River.
Beginning in and around 2023, the defendant worked with an HSO that smuggled illegal aliens of various countries from mainland Cornwall, Ontario to Cornwall Island, Canada and through the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian reserve into the Northern District of New York. The organization arranged for aliens to stay in local motels in Cornwall before they were transported from Cornwall Island and staged along the banks of the St. Lawrence River. Members of the organization would then transport the aliens by boat over the St. Lawrence River to drivers who transported them further into the Northern District of New York.
On the night of March 28, 2023, and into the early morning of March 29, 2023, a co-conspirator travelled to mainland Cornwall and transported a family of four Romanian aliens to Cornwall Island in a truck provided by Delormier. At approximately 3:06 a.m., the co-conspirator dropped the Romanian family off at Delormier’s residence to be brought across the St. Lawrence River. Delormier launched a boat from a landing in St. Regis, Quebec, intending to pick up the family, but due to high winds, freezing temperatures, and limited visibility on the St. Lawrence River, Delormier’s boat broke down and he became stranded on St. Regis Island. Later that night a co-conspirator transported the Romanian family to a public boat launch on the tip of Cornwall Island where a different boat pilot picked them up and attempted to take the family across the St. Lawrence River. While in transit, the boat capsized due to severe weather. As a result, the Romanian family and the boat driver died.
Mother and child departing room 140 at the Elect Inn walking towards a co-conspirator’s vehicle on March 29, 2023 at 3:21 a.m.
Father and child departing room 140, pulling the door closed before the father walks towards the co-conspirator’s vehicle on March 29, 2023 at 3:21 a.m.
A second co-conspirators vehicle with light blue boat in tow on March 29, 2023, at 9:29 p.m., appearing to match the boat found in the river during recovery efforts.
The second co-conspirators light blue and white boat being recovered from the St. Lawrence River near the bodies of the Romanian family.
Delormier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and four counts of alien smuggling for financial gain. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 27 and faces a minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Co-conspirators Dakota Montour, 32, and Kawisiiostha Celecia Sharrow, 45, both of the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian reserve, New York; Janet Terrance, 46, of Hogansburg, New York; and Timothy Oakes, 35, from the Akwesasne Mohwak Indian reserve, entered guilty pleas on Jan. 23, 2025, Oct. 8, 2024, March 6, 2025, and May 11, 2026, respectively. Delormier and co-conspirator Stephanie Square, 53, of the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Territory in Canada, were extradited to the United States from Canada in 2025. Square is awaiting trial.
HSI Massena engaged in an extensive years-long investigation of the case, with assistance from the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), HSI’s Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C., CBP’s National Targeting Center International Interdiction Task Force, New York State Police, Canada Border Services Agency, Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Police Department, Ontario Provincial Police, Sûreté du Québec, St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Cornwall Police Service. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in securing the arrests and extraditions of Delormier and Square.
The investigation and indictment were supported and prosecuted by Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), the Department’s lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). A highly successful partnership between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security. JTFA’s mission is to target the leaders and organizers of Cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean and the maritime border, and elsewhere. Led by the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and supported by the Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, the Office of International Affairs, and the Office of Enforcement Operations, among others, JTFA has dedicated Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Southern District of California; District of Arizona; District of New Mexico; Western and Southern Districts of Texas; Southern District of Florida; Northern District of New York; and District of Vermont. JTFA also partners with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the country and supports high-priority cases in any district. All JTFA cases rely on substantial law enforcement resources from DHS, including HSI and CBP USBP and Office of Field Operations, as well as FBI and other law enforcement agencies. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 458 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 408 U.S. convictions; and more than 357 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.
Trial Attorneys Lindsey Roberson and Alexandra Skinnion of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Stitt for the Northern District of New York are prosecuting the case.