A New York woman pleaded guilty Thursday for her role in a human smuggling operation that led to the deaths of a family of four — including two children under age three — in the St. Lawrence River, federal officials stated.
Court records show Janet Terrance, 45, of Hogansburg, conspired with five others to smuggle Indian and Romanian nationals into the U.S. for profit.
Two of her co-conspirators, Dakota Montour, 31, and Kawisiiostha Celecia Sharrow, 43, both from Akwesasne-Mohawk, New York, also pleaded guilty — Montour on Jan. 23, 2025, and Sharrow on Oct. 8, 2024.
According to court documents, Terrance, Montour, and Sharrow worked with a smuggling ring operating on the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation and in Cornwall, Ontario. The organization routinely smuggled people from Cornwall into northern New York, often using small boats to cross the St. Lawrence River.
In late March 2023, the group arranged to smuggle a Romanian family — a mother, father, one-year-old boy, and two-year-old girl — from Cornwall into New York. The children were Canadian citizens. Montour and Terrance admitted they were paid to help transport the family to the river’s edge.
On March 29, 2023, despite dangerous weather — high winds, freezing temperatures, and poor visibility — the family was loaded into a small boat for the river crossing.
The boat capsized, and all four drowned.
“The tragic deaths of two innocent, unknowing toddlers and their parents underscores the devastating impacts of alien smuggling,” said Special Agent in Charge Erin Keegan of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI) Buffalo. “Janet Terrance and her co-conspirators moved forward with this smuggling attempt despite the dangerous conditions and sheer illegality of the act, placing these victims in the situation that ultimately killed them. ICE HSI Massena is committed to enforcing U.S. laws at our border to protect the safety and the security of our communities.”
Montour pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling, four counts of alien smuggling for profit, and three counts of alien smuggling resulting in death. He faces up to 10 years in prison for each conspiracy and smuggling-for-profit count, and mandatory life for the smuggling resulting in death, according to authorities,.
Sharrow and Terrance each pleaded guilty to conspiracy and four counts of alien smuggling for profit. They face up to 10 years for the conspiracy and two smuggling counts, and between five and 15 years for the other two smuggling counts.
Montour pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling, four counts of alien smuggling for profit, and three counts of alien smuggling resulting in death. He faces up to 10 years in prison for each conspiracy and smuggling-for-profit count, and mandatory life for the smuggling resulting in death.
Sharrow and Terrance each pleaded guilty to conspiracy and four counts of alien smuggling for profit. They face up to 10 years for the conspiracy and two smuggling counts, and between five and 15 years for the other two smuggling counts