Suspected Human Trafficker Freed

(Bangor, Maine) From a previous report, 39-year-old Canadian mother of three, Savita Singh-Murray, pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to smuggle three South American illegal aliens into the United States. On Monday (10/31), she was freed.

From the BangorNews.com:

Only because the government couldn't prove that a Canadian woman was involved in human trafficking when she brought a man and two teenage females into the country illegally was she free to return to her husband and children, a federal judge said Monday.

Savita Singh-Murray, 39, of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, wept as U.S. District Judge John Woodcock sentenced her to time served, or 132 days in jail.

[ ... ]

He sternly admonished Singh-Murray for her involvement with what prosecutors suspect was a plot to bring young women into the country to be forced to work as prostitutes.

Woodcock said that Guyana is on an international human trafficking watch list.

Singh-Murray initially told officials that she was the aunt of Awad Hansraj, 21, Lalita Depaul, 18, and a 16-year-old girl, and that she intended to take them to the Calais McDonald's restaurant, according to court documents.

Later, she admitted that she was not their aunt and was forced by a former boyfriend in Toronto to smuggle the three into the U.S. and drop them off at the Calais Motor Inn.

Consequently, although it is strongly suspected that Singh-Murray was involved with human trafficking, there was no proof. I don't understand how this could be since she confessed and she was caught at the border. Nonetheless, the judge lets her go with the stipulation that she be barred from entering the U.S.

Awad Hansraj and Lalita Depaul each pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempting to enter the U.S. by making false statements to border agents and got to spend four days in jail before deportation. Immigration authorities took custody of the 16-year-old girl, identified as Sheliza A. in court documents.