Dozen people off Palm Beach County coast caught trying to enter U.S.

By Adam Sacasa, Sun Sentinel4:10 p.m. EDT, March 24, 2013


The U.S. Coast Guard, responding to a distress call off the coast of Palm Beach County, recently arrested a dozen people trying to enter the country illegally.

Along with the boat's captain, Robert Pinder, 39, and his brother, Raymond Pinder, 37, both Bahamian, the Coast Guard found eight Colombians, a Chilean and a Mexican on Tuesday.

The Coast Guard received a distress call around 2 a.m. for the disabled boat, a 19-foot Boston Whaler with an altered hull identification number, about 36 miles east of the coast of Palm Beach County.

Several of the men had been in the United States and were deported after felony convictions from 2000 to 2005, including larceny, obstructing law enforcement, and theft.

The boat, according to a U.S. district court criminal complaint, came from the Bahamas with 12 people aboard, despite its maximum capacity of seven.

Only two life vests were found on the boat as it began to take on water.

Authorities say Robert Pinder told the Coast Guard crew that the boat was from the Bahamas and heading to Freeport, Bahamas. After they checked with Bahamian authorities, no records were found, making it a "stateless vessel," according to the complaint.

After a check, the Coast Guard discovered none of the people on the boat were allowed in the U.S. for various reasons.

Robert Pinder told Department of Homeland Security investigators that he and his brother received $4,000 each to smuggle 10 people to the U.S. on March 18.

At 10 p.m. the same day, Robert Pinder said, the group left for the U.S. But 40 miles into the trip, they spotted a plane, deleted their GPS data and turned around, according to the complaint.

It was on the return trip that Robert Pinder told investigators the boat engine broke down.

One of the Colombians told investigators he paid $6,000 to a Bahamian man, with another $2,000 due on arrival in the U.S., according to the complaint.

The Pinders face charges of alien smuggling, conspiracy to smuggle aliens and illegal re-entry after being deported.
Six of the others, Pedro Alberto Castillo De Leon, 35, of Mexico; William Alfredo Acosta-Jimenez, 45, Efrain Antonio Guerra-Gutierrez, 44, and Wilson Alexander Castillo-Guerra, 37, all of Colombia, face illegal re-entry after deportation charges.


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