St. Lawrence River

Guilty plea linked to St. Lawrence River deaths

Stephanie Square, a dual Canadian-American from the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and multiple counts of alien smuggling, including resulting in death, in connection with a deadly 2023 smuggling attempt that killed a Romanian family of four and a boat operator on the St. Lawrence River. She led a cross-border smuggling network via Akwesasne and now faces a minimum sentence of five years up to life in prison, with sentencing set for November and several co-conspirators already having pleaded guilty.