A United States citizen who aided her husband in trying to cross into the U.S. illegally near Eureka last year was sentenced to six months of probation on Wednesday.  

Tracy Routh Lautenslager, 54, of California had planned on April 1 to drop her husband — a British citizen — off near the border, cross into the U.S. and then pick him up on the other side, according to court documents. As she entered the U.S. and headed toward Swisher Lake area near Lake Koocanusa, U.S. Border Patrol received information that a man was walking across the border.  

Border Patrol agents searched unsuccessfully for the man and believed he had given up and returned to Canada. Royal Canadian Mounted Police eventually found him walking around, seemingly lost, court documents said.  

Authorities took the man to the Roosville Port of Entry to identify him and determined him to be a British citizen without lawful status in the U.S. 

Lautenslager tried to return to Canada in the meantime, but was denied entry. Interviewed by investigators in the U.S., she allegedly admitted to planning to get around the immigration process and avoid a port of entry. A search of her mobile phone revealed texts between her and her husband documenting the logistics behind the plan, court documents said.  

In August, Lautenslager pleaded guilty in federal court to a single count of conspiracy to bring aliens into the U.S. at a location other than a designated port of entry.  

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen presided over the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katy Stack and investigated by Border Patrol. 

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or [email protected].