MIAMI – After a U.S. Coast Guard crew reported a suspicious go-fast boat in the Bahamas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers joined a pursuit.
Recommended Videos
Yordany Capote-Leon and Yuniel Cabrera departed in the boat from the U.S. before the USCG Coast saw them picking up a group of migrants, according to prosecutors.
Border Protection officers reported firing “warning shots” at the cuddy-cabin-style boat after Capote-Leon, 31, and Cabrera, 44, ignored their orders to stop off Key Largo.
The Oct. 24 pursuit ended with officers arresting Capote-Leon, Cabrera, and three Ecuadorians who had been deported from the U.S., according to Homeland Security Investigations.
The USCG Cutter Manowar crew returned 15 out of the 18 undocumented migrants to the Bahamas, according to the USCG.
HSI Miami identified the three undocumented migrants from Ecuador who had been deported as Jorge Cabrera, Marcelo Pesantez-Merchan, and Juan Villa.
Prosecutors announced Tuesday that a federal district judge in Miami adjudicated both Capote-Leon and Cabrera guilty of alien smuggling charges. Both were awaiting sentencing.