Bromley D. Hackney, Transporting Illegal Aliens, Ohio 2016

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Pickaway County man has pleaded guilty to unlawfully transporting illegal aliens within the United States.

Bromley D. Hackney, 57, of Ashville, Ohio, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today to one count of transportation of an alien within the United States.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the Criminal Complaint charging Robert G. Smith, Hackney was using a semi-truck to move undocumented aliens within the United States for profit in October 2016.

In December 2016, Hackney was stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint near Laredo, Texas and agents found four undocumented aliens attempting to conceal themselves in hidden compartments in the cabin of the freight box truck.

Transportation of an alien within the United States is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

“Smuggling human beings is a noxious business,” Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said. “We don’t want this sort of unlawful activity taking place in the Southern District of Ohio, and we’ll continue to work to identify and prosecute those who profit from transporting people illegally.”

Robert G. Smith, 58, of Natalia, Texas, was charged by criminal complaint with the same crime and arrested this morning in Texas.

Smith unlawfully transported aliens at least 72 times from 2011 through 2016 and transported four individuals each time. At first, he charged $800 per person and after the first two years increased the cost to $1,000 per person. The total amount of proceeds from the offense was nearly $269,000.