SUV driven from Tacoma to Blaine central to border-crossing scheme, feds say

TACOMA — A 27-year-old man who drove an SUV from Tacoma to Blaine pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to transport a dozen people illegally across the Canadian border into the U.S.

In a plea agreement, the Romanian citizen admitted to “knowingly” engaging in a scheme to assist a group that included four children, including one under the age of three, in entering the U.S. without proper documentation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

U.S. Border Patrol officials arrested Daniel Andronache on Nov. 9, 2023, near Blaine, where there is also an official border crossing between the United States and Canada.

They discovered 14 people in a car equipped to properly seat only eight, according to the plea agreement. Two children were “unrestrained in the trunk of the car, and another was unrestrained on the center console of the vehicle,” according to a March 8 press release.

To carry out the plan, Andronache flew from Omaha, Nebraska to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Nov. 7. From there, he found his way to Tacoma, where he got in the driver’s seat of a white Ford Expedition. With a co-conspirator, he drove to Blaine and parked on a road near the border.

According to the plea agreement, “12 Romanian citizens emerged from brush near the border and got into the car.”

Andronache “admits he knowingly entered the conspiracy to transport the non-citizens so they could illegally stay in the U.S.,” the press release continued.

He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lauren King on June 12, 2024, where he will face up to 10 years in prison.

The case was investigated by the Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security. The Romanian citizens were referred to immigration authorities.