Four people are facing charges in what authorities said was a migrant smuggling venture that led to a high-speed boat pursuit off Miami-Dade last week.
The four suspects were allegedly in a boat that was carrying multiple undocumented migrants heading toward the U.S. when it was detected about 21 miles east of Miami-Dade and heading west toward shore, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said Wednesday.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection boat crew found the vessel about two miles from shore shortly before midnight on March 11.
When CBP approached, the vessel fled and authorities fired warning shots, officials said.
As the vessel continued to flee, authorities fired “disabling rounds” into the engine which brought the vessel to a halt, officials said.
On board the vessel were 15 migrants, including four who had previously been deported from the U.S.
Taken into custody were the driver of the boat, 26-year-old Theron Don Mills, of The Bahamas, 39-year-old Oswaldo Sisa Heredia, of Ecuador, and 41-year-old Joel Perez-Matos and 33-year-old Pablo Antonio Alvarez Rodriguez, both of the Dominican Republic, officials said.
All four are charged with illegal re-entry of a deported alien, authorities said. Mills is also charged with encouraging and inducing aliens to enter the U.S.
If convicted, Mills faces up to five years in prison on the inducement charge, and each defendant faces up to two years in prison on the illegal reentry charges.
The remaining 11 migrants were not charged and were repatriated to The Bahamas, officials said.
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