Man Sentenced To 60 Months For Alien Smuggling

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK –Ronaldo Reyes, age 39, of Quebec, Canada, was sentenced yesterday to 60 months in prison following a September 2015 trial in which he was found guilty of alien smuggling offenses.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian, John C. Pfeifer, Chief Patrol Agent, United States Border Patrol, and James Spero, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations.

The evidence at trial demonstrated that Reyes acted as a smuggler for 12 aliens who entered the United States without inspection at Champlain, NY and Beecher Falls, VT.

Witnesses testified they each paid Reyes thousands of dollars in U.S. and Canadian cash in order to be brought to the United States illegally.  Reyes would then walk the aliens across the international border at night to a prearranged pickup vehicle, before fleeing north to Canada on foot.  Reyes was indicted and extradited from Canada in 2015.  He was convicted by a jury on September 23, 2015, following a three-day trial in Albany presided over by Senior United States District Judge Frederick J. Scullin.

This case was investigated by the United States Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Douglas Collyer and Katherine Kopita.