PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – A Hogansburg man has pleaded guilty to charges related to a botched attempt to smuggle Indian citizens from Cornwall to the United States.
Brian Lazore, 45, pleaded guilty Wednesday (Aug. 31) to a single count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and three counts of alien smuggling, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Lazore had tried to smuggle six citizens from India in late April, taking them in a boat from Cornwall but didn’t make it across the St. Lawrence and St. Regis Rivers before his boat took on water and sank.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says Lazore abandoned the boat and headed for shore, leaving the aliens to be rescued by various agencies. All were treated for hypothermia as the water temperature was just above freezing at the time.
Law enforcement had received a tip from an off-duty Cornwall police officer who saw the boat with six or eight people leaving from the Monte Carlo Motel, the Watertown Daily Times reported earlier this year.
“Lazore admitted to smuggling the aliens for his own financial gain,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Lazore faces a sentence of five to 15 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 when he’s sentenced Jan. 5, 2023.