TUPPER LAKE — U.S. Department of Homeland Security arrested a U.S. citizen and two Canadian citizens on human smuggling charges in two traffic stops on Lake Simond Road in Tupper Lake on Jan. 12. Agents also detained 10 Vietnamese citizens who had passports but allegedly no legal status to live or stay in the U.S.

The U.S. and Canadian citizens were charged under a portion of the federal law titled “Bringing in and harboring certain aliens.”

A criminal complaint filed in the U.S. Northern District Court of New York says they were allegedly being paid $1,000 to bring the Vietnamese nationals to New York City. The Vietnamese citizens were also arrested, but it is unclear where they are currently.

The Enterprise asked the Homeland Security Investigations agency for more information on the arrests. HSI, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, shared an account by HSI Special Agent Tyler Marshall which was filed with the court as a criminal complaint.

“We can’t say much beyond the information in the complaint since the investigation is ongoing,” HSI spokesperson Kate Pote said.

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Eyewitness

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Jack Delehanty said he saw one of the stops. He saw two New York State Police vehicles “boxing in” a car near Lake Simond Road’s intersection with state Route 30 just south of Moody bridge as a CBP SUV pulled onto the road.

“The sedan was occupied by at least five, perhaps six people of color, both male and female,” Delehanty wrote.

He said he saw around five border patrol SUVs parked at the NYSP substation a mile down the road.

Delehanty said when he got home around an hour later, everyone was still there.

“The people in the sedan appeared anxious,” Delehanty wrote. “But all were seated in silence. I got the impression there were six detainees at that time.”

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Court document

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In the complaint, Marshall said that the HSI office in Massena received a tip on Jan. 8 about suspected human trafficking at a short-term vacation rental at 72 Lake Simond Road. The tipster provided surveillance video from 10:30 p.m. the day before showing a truck pull into the driveway and unload “several subjects of Asian descent” from the capped bed of the truck, according to the account. They left the rental after around two hours.

On Jan. 11, Hall rented the same Airbnb, according to Marshall. The account says HSI already suspected Hall to be involved in human smuggling.

Marshall said they surveilled the property and saw an SUV drop off two sets of five people the next afternoon.

After an hour, it says Hall left with five people. Agents did a traffic stop on the vehicle shortly after it left.

The account says Hall provided a New York driver’s license and the occupants provided Vietnamese passports. It says Hall told officers he was bringing friends to New York City and that someone else was coming to pick up the other five people at the house.

Marshall said none of the 10 passengers had legal status to live or stay in the U.S.

Hall and the passengers were arrested and sent to the Burke, Vermont Border Patrol station for records checks, interviews and processing.

An hour later, agents did another traffic stop on the other vehicle.

Elissa Wattie, the driver, and passenger Joshua Thomson are both Canadians with legal status to be in the U.S., according to the account. It also says they had several passengers, also with Vietnamese passports.

They were all arrested and sent to Burke Border Patrol station for records checks, interviews and processing.

Hall and Thomson agreed to speak with investigators without a lawyer present. According to Marshall, Hall told investigators he was being paid $1,000 to bring the passengers to New York City and that he had Googled “How illegal is it to pick up illegals in the United States.”

Marshall said Thompson told investigators Wattie had nothing to do with this and that he typically does this by himself.

Syracuse Public Defender Anne LaFex, who represents Wattie, told the Enterprise they are arguing that she “has nothing to do with the incident” in her trial.

Plattsburgh attorney Mark Anderson is representing Hall. Bolton Landing attorney Marc Zuckerman is representing Thomson.

The cases are before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary Favro in Plattsburgh.