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Italian man allegedly smuggling French woman into the U.S. arrested after high speed chase from Fort Covington

Posted 10/18/18

FORT COVINGTON -- Efisio Mascia, 36, a citizen of Italy residing in Ibiza, Spain, was arrested Tuesday after a high-speed flight from Border Patrol on New York State Route 37 near Malone. The …

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Italian man allegedly smuggling French woman into the U.S. arrested after high speed chase from Fort Covington

Posted

FORT COVINGTON -- Efisio Mascia, 36, a citizen of Italy residing in Ibiza, Spain, was arrested Tuesday after a high-speed flight from Border Patrol on New York State Route 37 near Malone.

The arrested followed a failed smuggling attempt, said press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

No one was injured, officials said.

According to the criminal complaints, Border Patrol agents interrupted an alien smuggling event in progress along the border near the Fort Covington Port of Entry.

An agent attempted to pull over a New Jersey-plated BMW that was observed on a private dirt road along the border at the same time that a woman was observed illegally crossing the border. The BMW initially yielded to the Border Patrol agent, but sped off at a high rate of speed. Agents lost contact with the vehicle but later came upon it stopped in traffic at the intersection of State Routes 37 and 11 in Malone, federal authorities said.

A Border Patrol agent pulled into the intersection with emergency lights on, blocking the BMW, when the BMW then backed up at a high rate of speed, turned 180 degrees in the opposite direction and fled again. Agents found the driver, Mascia, hiding behind a closed store, and found the smuggled alien, a woman from France, in a store parking lot across the street. The BMW was later found abandoned on Route 30 south of Malone, investigators said.

Mascia was charged with transporting an alien unlawfully present in the United States.

He appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Gary L. Favro Thursday, Oct. 18 and was ordered detained pending a detention hearing scheduled for Oct. 25.

The smuggled alien, Sofie You, 38, of Paris, France, is charged with the misdemeanor offense of entry without inspection.

The charges filed against Mascia carry a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a post-imprisonment term of supervised release of up to 3 years, said a press release from the Justice Department.

This case is being investigated by Border Patrol and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward P. Grogan.