A Texas man was arrested for stealing a rental boat from a Florida Keys marina and taking it to Cuba, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
On Tuesday, 63-year-old Floyd Devasier, of Katy, Texas, rented the center console Panga boat from Beach Weekend Key West Marina in Stock Island for two days under an agreement that he must follow all maritime laws and it must be returned before the end of business on Wednesday, according to the sheriff’s office. A marina employee noted Devasier bought and filled an extra 20-gallon fuel tank before departing.
Devasier allegedly told the marina he would dock the boat overnight on the 6800 block of Front Street on Stock Island, however, multiple business and vessel owners on Front Street later told the Sheriff’s Office the vessel was never docked there and they never observed it being there. Security footage never showed the rental boat arriving.
Boat tracked to Cuba
The sheriff’s office said the marina owners used GPS to track the boat, which showed it headed south in the Atlantic before tracking ceased. When they tried call Devasier, the sheriff’s office said he didn’t answer.
“Marina staff were alerted when GPS tracking showed the boat entering Cuban waters, approximately 90 miles south of Key West,” according to a statement from the Beach Weekend Key West Marina. That’s when they called the U.S. Coast Guard and the sheriff’s office.
Cuba takes Devasier into custody
The sheriff’s office said on Wednesday they learned that the Cuban Border Guard had notified the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Investigations that the rental boat and Devasier, as well as a 38-year-old foreign national woman, were in their custody.
It is illegal for U.S. citizens to travel directly to Cuba by recreational boat without prior government authorization.
Devasier flew to Miami on Thursday and was arrested by federal authorities on a warrant for hiring or leasing with the intent to defraud, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office said Devasier has multiple prior convictions for drug-related offenses, including a case in 2019 where a vessel kept past its due date was also located in Cuba.
