Four people have been charged in connection to an apparent undocumented immigrant smuggling operation that led to a high-speed boat pursuit off the South Florida coast last week, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Investigators said the four people were in a boat that was carrying several undocumented immigrants when it was detected about 21 miles to the east of Miami-Dade County, and was headed west toward shore.
On March 11, just before midnight, investigators said that a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) law enforcement boat located the vessel about two miles away from shore.
When law enforcement approached the vessel, investigators said it fled. And despite law enforcement activating its lights and sirens, it continued to try and evade authorities.
When the vessel failed to stop, investigators said that agents fired warning rounds, and then eventually moved to “disabling rounds” that were discharged into the engine, bringing the vessel to a stop.
The four suspects had been previously deported from the U.S., officials say
Investigators said that law enforcement found 15 undocumented immigrants onboard the vessel, and all of them were transfered to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter William Fores for a screening and records check.
And when those checks were completed, it was determined that the four suspects, who were identified as Theron Don Mills, of the Bahamas, Oswaldo Sisa Heredia, of Ecuador, and Joel Perez-Matos and Pablo Antonio Alvarez Rodriguez, both of the Dominican Republic, had been previously deported from the U.S.
The four men were taken into custody and charged with re-entry of a deported aliens, and Mills was charged additionally with encouraging and inducing aliens to enter the U.S.
If they’re convicted, Mills faces up to five years in prison for the inducement charge, and each other defendant faces up to two years in prison for the illegal reentry charges.
The 11 undocumented immigrants were not charged and were sent back to The Bahamas, investigators said.
