The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee released an official statement about contractors harboring illegal aliens to impede immigration control law enforcement efforts. Read the statement below.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A multi-count indictment was unsealed today charging that from January 5 through January 13, 2026, Tyler Shane Wells, 33, of Morristown, TN, and Alexander Bonilla-Servin, 18, of Smyrna, TN, conspired:
- to conceal and harbor illegal aliens for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain, in violation of 8 U.S.C § 1324;
- to forcibly impede federal agents while engaged in the performance of official duties, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 111; and
- to prevent, by force, intimidation, or threat, federal agents from discharging their official duties, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 372.
Bonilla-Servin is separately charged with forcibly impeding federal agents engaged in the performance of their official duties by utilizing a 2019 GMC Sierra motor vehicle to strike into the motor vehicle occupied by those agents in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(b).
Wells appeared in court today, January 23, 2026, before United States Magistrate Judge Jill E. McCook and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges in the indictment. A detention hearing is set for Monday, January 26, 2026, before United States Magistrate Judge McCook. A trial date has been set for March 31, 2026, before United States District Judge Katherine A. Crytzer.
According to filed court documents, Wells and Bonilla-Servin agreed that Bonilla-Servin would drive his GMC Sierra quad cab pickup truck to a nearby location to conduct counter-surveillance against federal agents who were surveilling the construction site. After conducting this counter-surveillance, Bonilla-Servin drove his pickup truck back to the construction site’s entrance and positioned the truck in an offensive posture in order to maintain an active blockade and a display of physical aggression at the construction site’s entrance. Wells and Bonilla-Servin agreed, anticipated, and intended that federal agents would be forcibly impeded by the truck, which was continuously and actively operated by Bonilla-Servin at the construction site’s entrance. Filed court documents further allege that on January 13, 2026, Bonilla-Servin forcibly impeded two federal agents engaged in the performance of their official duties, by utilizing his GMC Sierra truck to strike into the agents’ vehicle as it attempted to enter the construction site.
United States Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III of the Eastern District of Tennessee, Special Agent in Charge Joe Carrico of the FBI Nashville Field Office, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Colin Jackson, Homeland Security Investigations, made the announcement.
The indictment is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David P. Lewen, Jr. will represent the United States.
Members of the public are remined that an indictment contains only charges and that every person is presumed innocent until their guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
