KEY LARGO, Fla. – Five people are facing 20 felony charges a piece after authorities said they helped to smuggle 20 migrants onto the shores of South Florida over the weekend, officials announced Tuesday.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the quintet is accused of smuggling 13 Ecuadorian nationals and seven Chinese nationals after the group landed via boat off County Road 905 in Key Largo.
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MCSO officials identified the suspects as Victor Victor Febles Gualpa, 38, of West Palm Beach; Joel Gil Egued, 48, of Cape Coral; Dianelys Perez Escouredo, 44, of Miami; Omar Livan Ripoll Perez, 28, of Miami; and Humberto Tamayo, 48, of Miami.
Authorities said their arrests came after U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Air and Marine agents stopped and detained the suspects in Florida City.
“The Sheriff’s Office was notified that the U.S. Attorney’s Office was not filing charges, so we consulted with the State Attorney’s Office and elected to proceed with state charges related to human smuggling,” Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a news release Tuesday. “The Sheriff’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office do not condone criminal behavior and will always work to hold people accountable.”
Jail records show that all five suspects were being held at MCSO’s Key West jail facility on a $100,000 bond.