[leadin]In one of the more bizarre illegal immigration stories we’ve read, a Canadian man was arrested along with a “guide” after swimming across a river that serves as a U.S. border in northern Minnesota.[/leadin]
Walter D. Duncan, 53, was charged in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis with conspiracy to bring aliens into the United States illegally after he was nabbed in the extreme northeastern corner of Minnesota.
According to a report in the Star Tribune, the convicted sex offender and international drug dealer from Ontario was caught with another Canadian after they swam across the Pigeon River, intending to meet up with another man with a car about five miles from the river crossing in the town of Grand Portage, Minn.
Duncan entered the United States illegally for “business” in Chicago because he was banned from entering the country due to his previous convictions. Duncan is an executive in the transportation industry, the newspaper reported.
John Craig Zdybal, 24, was Duncan’s alleged swimming partner. Investigators said he was hired to “protect Duncan from bears” and other dangers of the woods as well as aiding in the river crossing.
Richard A. Davids, 26, was also arrested waiting in a car in Minnesota for the soggy swimmers.
This wasn’t the first water crossing for Duncan. According to the report, the man has made the trip four or five times in the past to get into the U.S.
