The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Carmen Melari Ferrufino Perdomo, 29, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was sentenced on Feb. 22, 2019, to a four-month period of incarceration upon her conviction for transporting aliens who had entered the United States illegally from Canada. The prison term will be followed by a one-year period of supervised release. Ferrufino was also ordered to pay $5,100 as a special assessment in light of the nature of her crime. United States District Judge Christina Reiss ordered Ferrufino to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on April 5, 2019.
Court records show that on March 17, 2018, Ferrufino flew from her home in North Carolina to Burlington, Vermont, where she rented a car. She then drove in the early morning of March 18, 2018, to a pre-arranged location on the United States/Canada border to pick up six persons, all aliens who had just entered the United States illegally by walking through the woods. The United States Border Patrol stopped Ferrufino a short while after she had picked up her passengers. Records show that Ferrufino intended to drive all six aliens to New York City, and to receive payment in return.
Counsel for Ferrufino argued for a sentence of six months of house arrest. Judge Reiss disagreed, noting the premeditated nature of Ferrufino's conduct, as well as the societal risks associated with Ferrufino bringing persons she did not know, who had just entered the country unlawfully, further into the United States.
The case was investigated by the United States Border Patrol.
Ferrufino was represented by Assistant Federal Defender David McColgin. Assistant United States Attorney Michael Drescher was the prosecutor.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
