Feds catch alleged smugglers after boat chase

Las Vegas men accused of stealing vessel, heading for Cuba


By DAVID GOODHUE
dgoodhue@keysreporter.com
Posted - Thursday, September 12, 2013 05:21 PM EDT

A high-seas chase resulted in two Nevada men in Keys jail Wednesday, accused of stealing a boat from Marathon and trying to use it to go to Cuba to smuggle migrants into the United States.
The men, Ledian Yusnier Acosta-Gonzales, 29, and Dioselis Fuentes-Nodarse, 31, face felony charges for grand theft, property damage and assaulting law enforcement officers. They also face health and safety violations for having gasoline drums on their vessel.
Elee Erice, a Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman, said it was not clear at press time Thursday if Acosta-Gonzalez and Fuentes-Nodarse would face federal charges.
A Customs and Border Protection patrol boat crew spotted the Las Vegas men Wednesday night driving a 26-foot Robalo boat on the ocean side of Boot Key.
On board the CPB boat were three federal agents and a Monroe County Sheriff’s Office detective, who is a member of a joint anti-smuggling task force. The crew turned on the patrol boat’s emergency lights to signal the Robalo to stop. Instead, Acosta-Gonzalez and Fuentes-Nodarse sped up and began making several sharp turns, according to a Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit.
Erice said the chase lasted nine minutes. At one point, Acosta-Gonzalez, who was driving the Robalo, rammed the patrol boat with his vessel. This caused a crack in the Robalo’s hull, which began to take on water and slow down.
The agents then “disabled” the Robalo’s engines, boarded the vessel and arrested Acosta-Gonzalez and Fuentes-Nodarse. In the affidavit, Herrin or Erice do not make clear how agents disabled the boat.
Onboard, the agents reported finding the boat loaded with food, water and drums of gasoline.
The agents later learned that the Robalo, valued at $65,000, was stolen earlier that day from a canal behind a Sombrero Boulevard home in Marathon.
Acosta-Gonzalez and Fuentes-Nodarse told the agents they stole the boat, according to the affidavit. Herrin said the men told the agents they intended to go to Cuba and smuggle five migrants into the U.S.
Asked why they tried to outrun the Customs boat, Acosta-Gonzalez and Fuentes-Nodarse said they were hoping to beach the boat and escape on foot.
Summer, with its normally calmer seas and favorable currents, is a busy time for migrant smuggling. This year is no exception.
Last week, 46 Cuban migrants were caught in three separate places off the Keys by U.S. Coast Guard crews. They were stopped before they could set foot on U.S. soil. So, under the federal government’s wet-foot-dry-foot policy, the migrants were sent back to Cuba. If they made it to shore, they could stay in the U.S.
http://www.keysnet.com/2013/09/12/490085/feds-catch-alleged-smugglers-after.html