PSL man charged with smuggling illegal immigrants
By Staff report

Friday, June 6, 2008

MIAMI — For the second time in a month, a Port St. Lucie resident has been indicted on federal charges on suspicion of trying to smuggle Cuban immigrants into the country, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Thursday.

Rodolfo Perez-Apolinares, 34, was one of 10 people in five separate cases indicted last week by federal grand juries in Key West and Miami. He is expected to make his first appearance in federal court today.

The investigation against Perez-Apolinares and Alexeis Sardinas, 37, of Hialeah, began at 2:45 a.m. May 19 when the U.S. Coast Guard noticed a boat heading toward Cuban waters. The Coast Guard later tracked the boat as it went north toward the United States and stopped it in international waters about 20 miles northwest of Cuba.

Investigators found Sardinas operating the boat with Perez-Apolinares acting as a crew member, the affidavit states. There were 19 Cuban citizens on board, three of them minors.

The Cubans said the boat was rammed several times by the Cuban Border Guard, who stopped only after seeing there were children aboard. The boat had three cases of water, three five-gallon fuel containers and only two lifejackets, the affidavit states.

The two men face up to 10 years in prison on conspiracy charges and up to five years in prison for each of 19 charges of encouraging and inducing illegal aliens to enter the United States.

Similar charges were filed May 6 against Yoel Muniz-Santos, 36, of Port St. Lucie, who was indicted in Key West on charges of trying to smuggle 27 Cuban citizens into the country.

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