PITTSBURG, NH — A Brooklyn, NY, man is accused of smuggling nine undocumented immigrants, who were found crammed into the back of a mid-size SUV, from Canada into the U.S. via this northernmost New Hampshire town.
Abraham Hernandez, 27, was arrested June 13 in Pittsburg after a border patrol agent stopped his vehicle in Pittsburg and found nine people, eight from Mexico and one from Guatemala, packed into the rear of the five-passenger Honda CRV.
While Hernandez was arrested in June, documents filed in U.S. District Court in Concord were not unsealed until Thursday. On Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Hernandez was indicted on three counts of bringing in and harboring certain aliens. He is free on bail and will make a court appearance at a later date.
According to an affidavit by Border Patrol Agent-Intelligence John P. Marquissee, on June 13, 2023, at 10:03 p.m., Swanton Sector Communications (dispatch) advised border patrol agents of people possibly trying to enter the country illegally. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) reported they saw 10 people with backpacks walking south from Canada towards Halls Stream Road in Pittsburg.
Halls Stream Road is a north-south road that parallels the international boundary between the US and Canada for about nine miles.
Marquissee wrote that in recent weeks the road has been used on at least two occasions by suspected illegal aliens to cross into the U.S.
About 35 minutes after RCMP contacted dispatch, someone who lives on Halls Stream Road called to report a white SUV was parked in his driveway and when he turned on his porch lights, the car left at a high rate of speed.
At 10:57 p.m., Border Patrol Agent Dustin Norwsorthy saw a white SUV exiting Halls Stream Road. He followed the car, which was traveling at a high rate of speed and which appeared to be loaded with weight over its passenger capacity and was leaning to one side.
People in the trunk and back seat area appeared to be hiding their heads, according to Norsworthy’s observations, Marquissee wrote. Hernandez was identified as the driver.
Norsworthy asked him where he picked up all the people, and Hernandez said from the side of the road. Hernandez declined to speak with authorities and asked for an attorney.
Norsworthy asked those in the car where they were born; eight said Mexico, one said Guatemala. They and Hernandez were arrested and brought to the Beecher Falls Border Patrol Station for processing.
At the station, Victor Manuel Garcia-Elox, one of the smuggled individuals, said he was from Veracruz, Mexico, that he entered Canada on June 11, 2023, and that he was to pay $5,000 U.S. dollars after arriving in the U.S. He said he was going to California.
He said two men in a van drove them to the border and gave them directions to cross. The SUV was waiting for him once he crossed. The driver told the group to get in and hide.
Garciq-Elox said he did not feel safe with how he was positioned in the vehicle while it was moving.
Irving Arano-Ochoa said he was from Veracuz as well. He arrived in Canada in February and said he planned to go back to Mexico. He met a smuggler on Facebook in a group called “Mexicanos en Toronto.”
He, too, said the car was waiting for the group after they crossed into the U.S. He said the rear seats of the car were folded down when he got in. He felt he was in danger with not having a seat belt on.
Arano-Ochoa said he was going to pay $3,000 Canadian dollars after crossing and was going to a hotel. If no work was available in the U.S., he said he would return to Canada.
Eduardo Garcia-Vasquez told border patrol he was to pay $5,000 US dollars at a later time after crossing into the country. He said he found arrangements to cross the border in a WhatsApp group.
The charge of bringing in and harboring certain aliens provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to 3 years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Ward is prosecuting the case.
The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
