A Guatemalan in the U.S. illegally has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Ohio on charges he smuggled a teenage girl into the country and filed a false sponsorship application.

Prosecutors accuse Juan Tiul Xi, 26, a Cleveland resident who entered the country illegally in 2023, of inducing a 14-year-old Guatemalan girl to enter the U.S. without legal permission and to use the identity of his sister as her alias, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Tuesday in a news release.

The girl was placed with the Office of Refugee Resettlement because she was a minor at the border without a parent or guardian, and Tiul Xi allegedly applied to sponsor and gain custody of her. In September 2023, the office released the girl into Tiul Xi’s custody, believing she was his sister.

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