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11-01-2006, 04:30 PM
U.S. charges agent smuggled Cuban ballplayers (http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=sportsNews&storyID=2006-11-01T005622Z_01_N31234024_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-BASEBALL-SMUGGLING.xml&pageNumber=1&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage1)
By Tom Brown
MIAMI (Reuters) - A U.S. sports agent was charged on Tuesday with smuggling potential major league baseball players from Cuba to the United States.
Gustavo "Gus" Dominguez, a Beverly Hills, California-based agent who has represented dozens of Cuban defectors and other major league players, pleaded not guilty in a court appearance late on Tuesday, said his lawyer, Steve Salter.
Dominguez and four others were charged in a 53-count indictment from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, which appeared to be one of the first to allege that some people smuggling was aimed at getting major league prospects out of Cuba.
Dominguez was to be released after posting a $25,000 corporate surety bond, Salter said.
Smuggling operations that illegally transport Cubans from the communist-ruled island to Florida are commonplace, and taking people on the 90-mile (145-km) trip across the Florida Straits can be highly lucrative.
Baseball is Cuba's national sport and the country is considered to be awash in professional baseball prospects.
The U.S. attorney's office said Dominguez and four co-conspirators attempted to smuggle several ballplayers out of Cuba in July 2004 on a boat that was intercepted by federal officers before reaching the United States.
A second attempt was made a month later when 19 Cuba nationals were successfully smuggled aboard a speedboat into the Florida Keys, according to the indictment.
The Cubans were then transported in a rental van from Florida to Los Angeles.
The smuggling conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
Separate illegal immigrant smuggling, transporting, concealing and harboring charges each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted and a maximum fine of
$250,000.
A defendant identified as Geoffrey Rodrigues was also charged with assaulting a federal officer during the first smuggling attempt in July 2004, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment along with a $250,000 fine.
"Though this case involves a Beverly Hills sports agent and talented Cuban players, it is remarkably similar to the human smuggling operations that ICE encounters every day," said Julie Myers, assistant secretary of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.
"The ringleaders put the lives of illegal immigrants at risk and sought to profit from their labor. It is unfortunate that those who claim to support Major League Baseball taint America's pastime with these illegal human smuggling operations," Myers said in a statement.
By Tom Brown
MIAMI (Reuters) - A U.S. sports agent was charged on Tuesday with smuggling potential major league baseball players from Cuba to the United States.
Gustavo "Gus" Dominguez, a Beverly Hills, California-based agent who has represented dozens of Cuban defectors and other major league players, pleaded not guilty in a court appearance late on Tuesday, said his lawyer, Steve Salter.
Dominguez and four others were charged in a 53-count indictment from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, which appeared to be one of the first to allege that some people smuggling was aimed at getting major league prospects out of Cuba.
Dominguez was to be released after posting a $25,000 corporate surety bond, Salter said.
Smuggling operations that illegally transport Cubans from the communist-ruled island to Florida are commonplace, and taking people on the 90-mile (145-km) trip across the Florida Straits can be highly lucrative.
Baseball is Cuba's national sport and the country is considered to be awash in professional baseball prospects.
The U.S. attorney's office said Dominguez and four co-conspirators attempted to smuggle several ballplayers out of Cuba in July 2004 on a boat that was intercepted by federal officers before reaching the United States.
A second attempt was made a month later when 19 Cuba nationals were successfully smuggled aboard a speedboat into the Florida Keys, according to the indictment.
The Cubans were then transported in a rental van from Florida to Los Angeles.
The smuggling conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
Separate illegal immigrant smuggling, transporting, concealing and harboring charges each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted and a maximum fine of
$250,000.
A defendant identified as Geoffrey Rodrigues was also charged with assaulting a federal officer during the first smuggling attempt in July 2004, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment along with a $250,000 fine.
"Though this case involves a Beverly Hills sports agent and talented Cuban players, it is remarkably similar to the human smuggling operations that ICE encounters every day," said Julie Myers, assistant secretary of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.
"The ringleaders put the lives of illegal immigrants at risk and sought to profit from their labor. It is unfortunate that those who claim to support Major League Baseball taint America's pastime with these illegal human smuggling operations," Myers said in a statement.