Agents chase, intercept human smuggling boat loaded with over 30 people


File art of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter (Sun Sentinel files)

By Mike Clary Sun Sentinel contact the reporter

Once deported, four men back in U.S. custody after smuggling vessel from Bahamas stopped at sea

Three men previously deported from the U.S. are back in federal custody after they were arrested at sea for attempting to smuggle more than 30 people into the country, according to officials.


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Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection fired two warning shots to stop an overloaded twin-engine vessel in the Atlantic Ocean about eight miles east of Pompano Beach, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court.

Taken into custody in the Feb. 22 incident were Joseph Willey, Denny Hield and Omar Orrego-Yarce, all of whom were previously deported, authorities said.

A fourth man aboard the 35-foot vessel, Marco Balseca-Padilla, is also being held as a material witness in the government's case against the others on alien smuggling charges. A citizen of Ecuador, Balseca-Padilla was also previously deported from the U.S.

According to an affidavit filed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, an aircraft operated by Border Protection agents spotted a suspicious vessel heading from the Bahamas toward Florida and followed it into U.S. waters.

When the suspected smugglers ignored the lights and sirens of a Border Protection boat sent to intercept the vessel, a chase ensued, the affidavit said. During the chase, agents "fired two rounds of warning shots in front of the suspect vessel's bow, and the suspect vessel came to a stop," the affidavit said.




All 38 people aboard were taken aboard a Coast Guard cutter, where Willey and Hield admitted their roles in a smuggling operation that originated in Freeport, Bahamas, agents said.

Orrego-Yarce, a citizen of Colombia, admitted being deported from the U.S. in 2003, the affidavit said.

Balseca-Padilla also admitted to trying to enter the country illegally after traveling to the Bahamas from Ecuador, according to officials. He said he met Willey in Freeport, and stayed in a "stash house" for a week before the voyage.

Balseca-Padilla identified Willey and Hield as operators of the boat and organizers of the smuggling trip.

Nestor Yglesias, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said he could not comment on the case.

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