Thread: FL: Two from Lee County face smuggling charges

June 23, 2008


Two from Lee County face smuggling charges


Three men — two from Southwest Florida and one from Miami — appeared in court today after allegedly conspiring to bring aliens into the United States.

Raul Rodriguez, 41, of Lehigh Acres, Rene Fernandez, 46, of Cape Coral and Sergio Azcuy, 27, of Miami are being held without bond until a Thursday hearing when a judge will revisit the issue, Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Molloy said. A fourth man, Ramon Zambrana, of Charlotte Harbor, is charged but is considered a fugitive.

According to an indictment unsealed today, the men were involved in two smuggling ventures — one that was unsuccessful in December and one that was successful in April.

In April, 21 Cubans were smuggled into the Dry Tortugas.

In the December incident, the U.S. Coast Guard station in Miami got a call from Jose Abreu, who said his sister and nieces were on a boat and needed medical attention. Abreu provided officers with the vessel's coordinates and a satellite phone number.

Around the same time, Raul Rodriguez, of 231 School Side Drive, Lehigh Acres, called the U.S. Coast Guard station in Fort Myers Beach, saying he loaned his boat to two friends so they could fish and that the boat was overdue.

When Coast Guard officers found the boat, inside they found 20 Cuban refugees. Luis Rufino Lopez-Cordero, 42, was a crew member on a boat, as was Jose Bello, 28.

Cordero, who pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to smuggle and smuggling aliens, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in May, followed by 36 months on supervised release. Bello, who pleaded guilty in March to the same charges, will be sentenced June 30.

When federal agents searched Raul Rodriguez’s home in Lehigh Acres after obtaining a search warrant, they found 55 six-gallon cans of gas as well as two global positioning systems, Molloy said. Agents also searched Fernandez’s home in Cape Coral. In all, agents are seeking two boats, a truck and a house in forfeiture proceedings.

Along with all four being indicted on a charge of conspiracy to bring aliens into the country, Rodriguez, Fernandez and Zambrana are charged with attempting to bring aliens into the country. Rodriguez, Fernandez and Azcuy are also charged with bringing aliens into the country.

“We were executing a a search warrant on something that did happen and found something that was going to happen,â€

Fire up Ole Smokey... I'm tired of this crap

No mention if the accused are IA's or recent legal immigrants.Either way,as usual in SW FL. no mention of deportation.

Not only are the Cubans bringing in Illegal Cubans they also are growing Pot in our area.

Lehigh Acres has become one big Pot growing city in the last 2 years and guess who are the growers ? Ungrateful Cubans who moved here from Miami yet there is never any mention of deportations.

SW Floridians are feedup with the constant search and seizure of grow houses and humane smuggling which keeps our Sheriff's deputies so busy they have little time to deal with other type crimes.