Two Men Indicted In Transnational Human Smuggling Over US-Canada Border And Money Laundering Scheme

An indictment was unsealed Monday in the District of Vermont charging a Dominican national and a U.S. citizen with conspiring to smuggle foreign nationals from Mexico and Central and South America into the United States via the U.S.-Canada border.

According to court documents, Francisco Antonio Luna Rosado, 27, an illegal alien from the Dominican Republic, and Jesus Hernandez Ortiz, 37, of Puerto Rico, are charged with one count of conspiracy to illegally bring aliens to the United States and 12 counts of illegally bringing aliens to the United States for the purpose of private financial gain related to a Sept. 17, 2023, smuggling event. Luna Rosado is also charged with two counts of transactional money laundering for engaging in monetary transactions involving property derived from smuggling activities. 

Luna Rosado allegedly directed smuggling operations from at least Aug. 2022 through at least March 2024, coordinating the illegal transport of aliens across the U.S.-Canada border into northern Vermont. Aliens arrived by airplane, from their origin country to southern Canada. Luna Rosado then used live shared cellular location data to guide the aliens across the Canadian border to northern Vermont. From northern Vermont, Luna Rosado used an approximate 70-person encrypted chat platform to communicate and arrange for drivers, including Hernandez Ortiz, to pick up aliens at the northern border. The drivers then drove the aliens from Vermont to New York City. Upon arrival in New York City, the aliens paid Luna Rosado in U.S. currency. Luna Rosado deposited and withdrew this money into and through the U.S. financial system, in amounts exceeding $10,000.