Press Release
BOAT CAPTAIN SENTENCED IN CONNECTION WITH FAILED MIGRANT SMUGGLING VENTURE THAT RESULTED IN 6 DEATHS
June 22, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Anthony V. Mangione, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of Investigations, Harold Woodward, Director of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Rear Admiral Steve Branham, Commander, U.S. Coast Guard, 7th District, announce that defendant Crecencio Hernandez, 63, was sentenced Friday, June 19, 2009, in federal court in Ft. Lauderdale, on a charge of conspiring to encourage and induce illegal aliens to enter the United States without permission, resulting in the death of six aliens, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Sections 1324(a)(1)(A)(v)(I) and (a)(1)(B)(iv).
Sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch, who had previously accepted Hernandez's guilty plea in the matter. Judge Zloch sentenced Hernandez to nine and half years of federal prison time, to be followed by three years of supervised release.
According to pleadings and in-court statements, on October 24, 2008, a wooden rustic vessel with approximately forty foreign nationals from the Dominican Republic and Brazil sailed from the coastal city of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic and headed toward Miami, FL. Hernandez had agreed with the Dominican organizers of the trip to captain the vessel. The purpose of the trip was to smuggle the passengers into the U.S. through Miami. Hernandez admitted that he knew that his passengers were not U.S. citizens and nationals, and that they did not have permission to enter the country. Hernandez also admitted that he steered the vessel, helped navigate the route, directed the crew, and ordered the passengers to maintain calm.
On October 31, 2008, the wooden vessel hit a sandbar off the shore of Virginia Key. The boat tipped over and most of the passengers and crew jumped into the water and began swimming for the shore. The weather was windy; the waters were rough; and the passengers, having been at sea for eight days with little water and food, were tired and weak. Six male passengers, died trying to swim to the shore. Subsequently, ICE special agents conducted a criminal investigation which resulted in the November 7, 2008 arrest and charges of Hernandez.
Acting U.S. Attorney Sloman commended the investigative efforts of ICE's Office of Investigations with the assistance of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Coast Guard, 7th District. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Luck.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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