A Colombian man was extradited from Canada to the United States and arraigned on Thursday for his alleged involvement in a human smuggling attempt that resulted in a pregnant woman drowning.
According to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 36-year-old Jhader Augusto Uribe-Tobar – a citizen of Colombia who resides in Québec – attempted to smuggle a pregnant woman from Canada into New York for $2,500 by instructing her to wade through the frigid Great Chazy River in darkness.
The woman, a 33-year-old citizen of Mexico, died in December 2023 while attempting to complete the trek.
The body of Ana Vasquez-Flores was found in the river near Champlain, N.Y., on Dec. 14, 2023, two days after her husband alerted a border patrol agent that she had not emerged from the woods on the American side of the border.
Juan Uribe-Tobar advertised his smuggling services on TikTok according to the court documents.
On December 7, 2023, Vasquez-Flores’s husband contacted Uribe-Tobar via the app and was told that the cost for the crossing was “$2,500 American” – with the route taking Vasquez-Flores through Montreal before reaching Plattsburgh, New York.
Four days later, at approximately 6:21 p.m., Uribe-Tobar messaged the relative, stating, “Friend, we are at the river crossing.” A minute later, he followed up with, “She is crossing, friend.”
The husband responded, “I’m very nervous.”
By 7:06 p.m., Uribe-Tobar sent another message indicating concern for A.V.-F.’s safety: “Bro hello, I think she got wet or turned off her cell phone. Bro, I told her to hold it while she was crossing.”
Uribe-Tobar and the victim’s relative continued to exchange messages throughout the night.
Uribe-Tobar claimed he had people searching for the man’s wife and allegedly told the husband via text message, “I already sent them a pin to see if they see her, I told them what happened and that she is pregnant.”
He provided her last known location – near the Great Chazy River in Champlain – where, according to Uribe-Tobar, the water was “wadable.”
A search was launched immediately and on December 14, 2023, authorities discovered Vasquez-Flores’s body floating in the Great Chazy River.
Uribe-Tobar has been charged with federal smuggling-related offences, which carry a minimum sentence of three years and a maximum of life in prison.
United States Attorney Carla Freedman said of the tragic incident: “This tragedy highlights the dangers of illegal migration and how, as alleged, smugglers deliberately put people in harm’s way for profit.”
“By vigorously prosecuting human smuggling networks,” Freedman continued *we are deterring and reducing the number of dangerous crossings like the one that took the lives of this young woman and her unborn child.”
