A citizen of Zimbabwe pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to two federal felonies related to his illegal border crossing in the wilderness area between Canada and Western Washington, announced Acting U.S.
Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. Tatenda Banga, 30, was observed twice in 2024 on surveillance cameras near Hozomeen, Washington in the North Cascades. Today Banga pleaded guilty to being an unlawful alien in possession of firearms and possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute. Sentencing is scheduled in front of U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead on June 12, 2025.
According to the plea agreement, on January 3, 2024, the U.S. Border Patrol detection technology captured an image of an armed person entering the United States near the north end of Ross Lake near Hozomeen, Washington.
The image shows a person, later identified as Banga, crossing over the border with a longarm shotgun. Later that day Banga is seen defacing another camera near the border. Personnel from the Border Patrol and the National Park Service responded and searched for the person pictured in the surveillance, but the subject fled into the woods and was not located.
Agents did find a loaded 12-gauge Winchester shotgun that appeared to match the gun in the surveillance image that the subject left behind during his flight from law enforcement. The gun was traced to a firearms dealer in Montreal, but no fingerprint records matching those on the gun were found at the time.
On December 27, 2024, the National Park Service alerted Border Patrol to suspected cross border activity.
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A National Park Service canoe was discovered near Ross Dam with a machete and food wrappers inside the canoe. RCMP cameras provided an image of someone with a headlamp and backpack moving toward the U.S./Canada border.
While driving Highway 20 (the North Cascades Highway) near the south end of Ross Lake, Border Patrol agents noticed Banga walking on the side of the highway. Banga’s appearance matched the appearance of the individual from the RCMP surveillance images. Banga was contacted for an immigration inspection and had no documents to establish that he had legally crossed into the U.S. or that he was legally present in the U.S. When Banga was taken into custody he was found to have scales, gelatin capsules and about 1.4 pounds of MDMA in his possession.
It was then that Border Patrol Agents recognized Banga as being the same individual who was recorded defacing cameras in the area nearly a year prior. Border Patrol Agents reran the fingerprints found on the shotgun that was recovered on the U.S. side of the border back in January 2024, and the fingerprints on the gun matched to Banga. Information on Banga’s phone also linked him to the shotgun. Banga admits that he unlawfully entered the U.S. while armed with the shotgun.
Being an unlawful alien in possession of a firearm is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Judge Whitehead will determine the actual sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Border Patrol Blaine Sector Anti-Smuggling Unit, National Park Service, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI). The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dane A. Westermeyer and Special Assistant United States Attorney Katherine Collins.
