A federal grand jury in Miami handed down indictments Wednesday against five men tied to a botched smuggling attempt that saw two dozen people packed onto a small boat headed for Florida. The group was intercepted just miles from the coast in late April, leading to charges for the captain and four passengers with criminal records.
The drama began just after midnight on April 26 when law enforcement radar picked up a blip moving west toward Miami-Dade County. Patrol boats moved in on the target—a small center-console vessel cutting through the dark with its navigation lights turned off about five miles offshore. When officers hit their sirens and lights, the boat finally slowed to a halt.
Federal agents found 25 people crammed onto the small vessel. Among those detained was the operator, 38-year-old Verdant Roosevelt Scott of The Bahamas.
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The group was moved aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Winslow Griesser for processing, where biometric checks revealed that four of the passengers—Zamfir Nitu, Donald Coote, Sergio Alejandro Correa Ramirez, and Gheorghe Ion Chiperi—had previously been denied entry into the United States.
Scott now faces 24 counts of encouraging and inducing aliens to enter the country, along with charges for assisting them. If the court finds him guilty, he could spend up to 10 years in prison.
The legal stakes are even higher for Nitu and Coote, because of their past aggravated felony convictions, they face up to 20 years behind bars for illegal reentry. Correa Ramirez and Chiperi face up to two years.
While five men remain in the federal legal system, the other 20 people found on the boat were not charged with crimes and have already been sent back to The Bahamas.
The case was announced by U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones and HSI Miami Acting Special Agent in Charge Jose R. Figueroa.
The investigation involved a joint effort between Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection, and the Coast Guard. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanner Stiehl is handling the prosecution.
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