BLAINE, Wash. — The US Attorney’s Office announced on March 8th that a 27-year-old citizen of Romania pleaded guilty in US District Court in Seattle to conspiracy to transport those not legally in the United States. According to the announcement, the defendant, Daniel Andronache, was arrested near Blaine on November 9, 2023, after he and a coconspirator picked up 12 people who had illegally crossed into the US from Canada.
According to the plea agreement, Andronache flew from Omaha, Nebraska to Seattle on November 7, 2023, and obtained a white Ford Expedition in Tacoma. Andronache and a coconspirator used the car to drive to Blaine, Washington. The men parked on a road near the international border. Twelve Romanian citizens emerged from brush near the border and got into the car. The car only had seats for eight people, and there were 14 in the vehicle. When Border patrol stopped the car, they found two children unrestrained in the trunk of the car, and another was unrestrained on the center console of the vehicle. The youngest child in the car was under the age of three. US Attorney’s Office – Western District of Washington (March 8, 2024)
Andronache is scheduled for sentencing on June 12th.
Andronache’s arrest occurred nearly 2 months following an incident where a crash at Van Buren Road and E Badger Road injured 7 Romanian citizens who had just entered the US illegally from Canada. All 7 Romanians, ages 15 through 51, in a Jeep and a 19-year-old driver of a Ford were transported from the crash scene by ambulance.
