AKWESASNE -- Terri Ann Bush, age 43, of Hogansburg and St. Regis, Quebec, Canada, was sentenced Wednesday to 36 months in prison for her role in a human smuggling conspiracy, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Bush pleaded guilty on June 21.

In the evening of Nov. 17, a New York State Police trooper in rural northern New York performed a traffic stop on a southbound vehicle. A male citizen of Israel, Bush, and the driver, also from Hogansburg, told the trooper they were headed from the international border area to New York City. They were released after the trooper issued a traffic ticket, according to U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian.

Later, troopers and Border Patrol determined that the Israeli man was known to immigration officials and not lawfully in the United States. The next morning, Border Patrol agents stopped the same vehicle northbound with the Israeli man was absent. After a search, federal agents found and arrested him in Philadelphia. He was brought back to New York for prosecution for illegal entry to the United States from Canada, and later pleaded guilty. The driver from Hogansburg also pled guilty to an alien smuggling charge, Hartunian said.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Border Patrol Burke station, aided by its sector intelligence unit, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Fugitive Alien investigators in Philadelphia. New York State Police, the Massena Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST), and the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police assisted in the investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Horsman.