Girl thwarts stepfather’s plan to illegally enter U.S.

BANGOR – A newlywed’s honeymoon plans were thwarted this weekend when her daughter told border agents of the woman’s plan to smuggle her new husband across the border.

Rene Viel, 40, of St. Francois de Madawaska, New Brunswick, was arrested Sunday. His bride of two months, Susan Helen Harbison of Wallagrass, and her teenage daughter were with him but were not charged.

The girl was identified in court documents only as Jane Doe.

Viel, who made his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Bangor on Monday, is being held at the Piscataquis County Jail until his case is resolved.

He admitted to border patrol agents that early Sunday morning, he crossed the St. John River in a boat piloted by his friend “Rocky.”

Harbison and her daughter picked Viel up at a prearranged meeting point along the banks of the St. John River on Route 161.

If they had not been turned in, the couple planned to head to Florida where Viel had a job lined up.

Officials learned of the plan from the teen, Jane Doe, on Thursday. She informed a Customs and Border Protection official about the plot during a secondary inspection when she and her mother were stopped at the Fort Kent border crossing.

The girl told the official that her mother was planning to smuggle her new husband, Viel, into the U.S. in the next few days, according to court documents. The girl also alerted Fort Kent police to the plan.

U.S. Border Patrol agents placed Harbison’s maroon 1993 Chevy Lumina on a BOLO, or “be on the lookout for,” alert.

The car was spotted about 9:45 am. Sunday by a U.S. Border Patrol pilot on routine helicopter patrol, according to court documents. The car was headed south on Route 11 about 15 miles north of Patten.

It was stopped about 45 minutes later by border patrol agents and Aroostook County sheriff’s deputies. Viel, Harbison and Doe were taken to the Houlton Border Patrol Station and interviewed.

Viel and Harbison admitted that they’d been hatching the plot for some time. Both told agents that they’d met two years earlier and married two months ago, according to court documents. Harbison said that she moved to Maine from Michigan about a year ago to be near Viel.

Viel was refused admission into the U.S. at Fort Kent twice in 1999. Harbison told agents that her husband had told her that he was not allowed to enter Maine because his ex-wife had a restraining order against him.

Details of his criminal history and reasons for his refused admittance were not outlined in court documents.

If convicted on charges of illegal re-entry and entry without inspection, he faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.