Pennsylvania man indicted on alien smuggling and human trafficking charges

SALT LAKE CITY, Ut. (WTAJ) — A federal grand jury has indicted a Pennsylvania man for alleged alien smuggling and human trafficking.

On Wednesday it was announced that dual citizen Sivarupan Sivaramalingam, 43, of Malvern, was indicted on charges of traveling to Salt Lake City to pay for and obtain tourist visas to promote the illegal smuggling of foreign nationals into the country, according to the United State’s Attorney’s Office District of Utah.

Sivaramalingam was arrested on June 20 following a criminal investigation into a human smuggling organization. According to the media release, an agent with the Department of Homeland Security Investigations went undercover to meet Sivaramalingam. He believed the undercover agent could help provide means of entry into the United States for foreign nationals.

Sivaramalingam offered to pay the agent $12,500 U.S. dollars, per foreign national, for an entry visa or some other valid document to enter the country.

On April 8, Sivaramalingam traveled to Salt Lake City to meet the agent and further discuss the illegal plan. According to the release, Sivaramalingam provided the agent with hard copies of five Sri Lankan nationals’ passports and asked the agent to process the foreign nationals to obtain entry to the country.

During that meeting, Sivaramalingam and the undercover agent agreed on a downpayment for services to be approximately $5,000. The agent received the funding via bank transfer on April 19.

Between May and June, the agent continued communicating with Sivaramalingam, notifying him that he acquired B1/B2 tourist visas for all five Sri Lankan nationals.

On June 20, Sivaramalingam and the agent met in Salt Lake City and he was told the vias were not legal or legitimate and he was arrested.

Sivaramalingam is charged with alien smuggling and human trafficking with respect to involuntary servitude and forced labor. He will make his initial appearance on the indictment on July 12.

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Assistant United States Attorney Carlos Esqueda of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah is prosecuting the case.

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