August 17, 2009

JASON MOURAO SENTENCED IN ALIEN SMUGGLING PLOT

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated Jason Mourao, 21, of Shrewsbury, MA, was sentenced on August 11 in United States District Court in Brattleboro to one year of probation following his guilty plea to a charge of transporting aliens within the United States.

According to court records, at approximately 2:10 a.m. on July 31, 2008, a Border Patrol Agent on patrol near the Canadian border in Derby encountered a Chevrolet van travelling southbound away from the border. The agent stopped the vehicle to determine the citizenship and immigration status of the occupants.

The vehicle was being driven by Mourao, a U.S. citizen. The front seat passenger was Paulo Mendes-De Souza, who also claimed to be a United States citizen. Maxwell Cerqueira, who was in a rear seat, presented a Brazilian passport with an expired visa.

The defendants were transported to the Newport Border Patrol station. Investigation there established that Mourao had recently travelled from Massachusetts to Toronto. While in Canada, a man asked Mourao to pick up two persons in Derby Line upon his return to the United States, and to drive those two individuals to Massachusetts. Mourao received directions where to meet the two persons and was able to locate Mendes-De Souza and Cerqueira in brush by the side of the road.

Further investigation showed that Cerqueira had first entered the United States in 2006 on a visa. After the visa expired, Cerqueira entered Canada illegally. Cerqueira met Mendes-De Souza in Montreal. Both men paid $2000 to be smuggled into the United States. From Montreal, Cerqueira and Mendes-De Souza took a cab to a location near to but north of the border, then walked into the United States. In the United States, they were met and picked up by Mourao.

Mendes-De Souza continued to tell Border Patrol agents that he was a United States citizen until a fingerprint check showed that in December 2003, Mendes had been apprehended in San Francisco for being in the United States illegally. At that time, Mendes was allowed to voluntarily depart from the United States.

As a result of these arrests, a federal grand jury indicted Mourao for transporting aliens within the United States; Mendes-De Souza was charged with making a false claim of U.S. citizenship and Cerqueira was charged with unlawfully entering the United States. Mendes-De Souza and Cerqueira both pled guilty, were sentenced to time served and have been deported.

Mourao was represented by Carmine Lepore of Revere, MA. The prosecutor is Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples.