Woman pleads guilty to trying to smuggle British husband into U.S. through B.C.

U.S. Border Patrol. (Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

A California woman is facing up to 10 years in prison after she was caught trying to smuggle her husband into the United States through southeastern British Columbia.

The U.S. district attorney for Montana says 53-year-old Tracy Routh Lautenslager pleaded guilty to conspiracy to smuggle an alien into the country at a location other than a designated port of entry.

A statement from the attorney’s office says Lautenslager’s husband is a British citizen with “no lawful status” in the U.S.

Prosecutors allege Lautenslager drove her vehicle south through the Roosville, B.C., border crossing on April 1 and then headed to nearby Swisher Lake, Mont.

Later that morning, U.S. border guards were alerted to a lone man seen walking across the border from Canada. The border agents searched the area but could not find the man, believing he had had returned to Canada.

Mounties on the Canadian side responded to the area, locating the man and bringing him to the crossing at Roosville, where he was identified by U.S. border agents, prosecutors said.

Around the time her husband was apprehended, Lautenslager was attempting to re-enter Canada to look for him but was denied entry on suspicion of smuggling.

She was subsequently interviewed by U.S. authorities and “admitted she and her husband planned to have him circumvent the immigration process,” the district attorney’s office said.

“She indicated the plan was to drop her husband off at a location on the Canadian side of the border, drive into the United States, and then pick him up,” according to the statement Tuesday.

“She admitted that what she attempted to do was wrong.”

Authorities searched Lautenslager’s cellphone during their investigation and “discovered text messages between her and her husband as the conspiracy was unfolding and discussing logistics,” the attorney’s office said.

The smuggling charge carries a potential 10-year prison sentence, followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine, according to the statement.