Customs catches man hiding in bag; 3 charged

COLLINS LANDING — As U.S. Customs officers on Wellesley Island began opening a large hockey bag Sunday afternoon during the cursory inspection of a sport utility vehicle, they saw a human hand.

Seconds later, they found a man hiding in the bag, exposing the attempted smuggling of an illegal alien.

The Department of Homeland Security disclosed Tuesday the arrests of two women from Virginia and a Haitian national about 3 p.m. Sunday.

Vernetta Sullivan, 37, and her sister, Conay Robinson, 39, are charged with alien smuggling, and Benedict Pierre, 38, is cited with illegally entering the United States. They were being held Tuesday in Onondaga County Correctional Facility, Syracuse, awaiting action in U.S. District Court.

Kevin Corsaro, public affairs chief with Homeland Security, said before the inspection, the women told inspectors they were returning from visiting friends in Montreal. The officers saw several pieces of luggage in the rear cargo area of the vehicle and took a closer look, he said.

Mr. Pierre, they later determined, had been deported from the United States in 2006 because he had entered the country illegally three years earlier. He fled to Canada, where he sought asylum.

Ms. Sullivan revealed during questioning that she and Mr. Pierre had been dating about four years and said they planned to get married in the United States, Mr. Corsaro said.