A Hogansburg man was charged last week in connection with what the U.S. Department of Justice called a failed smuggling event.

Kyle Thompson, 28, was charged by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Feb. 17 with alien smuggling.

A criminal complaint, filed Feb. 18 in U.S. District Court in Plattsburgh, states agents responded the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Police’s request for assistance regarding two “suspicious subjects” who exited a boat on the St. Lawrence River.

The complaint claims the two people who exited the boat were from Romania.

They were seen walking across ice before getting into a black 2015 Jeep Compass with New York state plates on Garrow Road in Hogansburg. The complaint claims tribal police attempted to stop the vehicle based on a suspected alien smuggling event.

The complaint claims that as tribal police approached the Jeep, the vehicle attempted to flee from law enforcement but became stuck in a snowbank.

The driver, later identified as Thompson, fled the scene on foot, according to the complaint.

The two Romanian people who earlier entered the Jeep remained inside before tribal police took them into custody.

Tribal police apprehended Thompson shortly after without any further incident, according to the complaint.

Once border agents arrived, immigration inspections were conducted on the two Romanian people. The complaint alleges the two people admitted to being in the United States illegally without entering through a port of entry.

There were no injuries to Thompson or the vehicle occupants, according to a statement from the DOJ.

The complaint alleges Thompson later admitted that he was going to drive the two people to the Red Roof Inn in Malone.

Thompson appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary L. Favro on Feb. 18 and was ordered detained.

If convicted, Thompson faces up to five years in prison.

U.S. Border Patrol is conducting the investigation into this case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Stitt will prosecute.