A Colombian man was arraigned on charges connected to a pregnant woman's drowning in the Great Chazy River in late 2023.

The United States Attorney's office said Jhader Augusto Uribe-Tobar, 36, smuggled the woman, identified in a statement as A.V-F., from Canada into New York's North Country in December for a $2,500 fee. The attempt ended with A.V-F.'s drowning in the river in Champlain after Uribe-Tobar is alleged to have told her to wade through the river in the dark.

Uribe-Tobar is alleged to have advertised himself as a smuggler on TikTok in December 2023, and a relative of A.V-F. wired him the money to smuggle her over the border into the U.S. on Dec. 11. After the relative and Uribe-Tobar exchanged texts that night, the relative said he had not heard from A.V-F., and he told authorities that her last known location was the river's edge in Champlain. Her body was found three days later.

After being extradited from Canada, Uribe-Tobar was ordered detained at his initial court appearance in Plattsburgh, pending trial in Utica. He faces a minimum of three years to a maximum of life in prison if convicted.

"By vigorously prosecuting human smuggling networks, we are deterring and reducing the number of dangerous crossings like the one that took the lives of this young woman and her unborn child," said U.S. Attorney Carla Freedman in a statement.