Posted on 05/26/2006 1:35:59 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
A fourth, but perhaps not last, suspect was arrested in a Port Isabel human smuggling ring that used luxury boats to bypass border patrol checkpoints, federal authorities said.
U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents arrested Breakaway Cruises Manager Robert M. Moore on a felony human smuggling charge Wednesday.
Moore was arrested wearing a Breakaway Cruises T-shirt and held at the Brownsville City Jail before appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge John William Black Thursday morning, according to jail records.
A criminal complaint shows Moore is accused of accepting $9,000 from alleged human smuggling “middleman” Luis Alberto Gutierrez-Zapien to take six immigrants to Corpus Christi.
Gutierrez-Zapien was arrested Tuesday and remains in custody, while Moore was released after posting $50,000 unsecured bond.
Moore is the fourth person named in a federal investigation into the alleged illegal activities of Breakaway Cruises owner Mack Daniel Bryant, according to court records.
Bryant and his captain Michael Walker used the Poco Mas charter boat to make at least three immigrant smuggling runs from Port Isabel to Corpus Christi before Bryant’s Sunday arrest, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in one of the four cases.
Walker had not been arrested or charged in the case at press time Thursday, but ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda said more arrests could follow depending the outcome of ongoing investigation.
Pruneda said no one else had been charged or arrested in connection with case at press time Thursday, but federal court records state that both Walker and Bryant’s secretary, “Kathryn,” were also involved in the scheme.
The affidavit states that Walker and Bryant had taken deckhand Baldemar Valdez on the four human smuggling trips, while Kathryn drove a truck to Corpus Christi on Sunday.
Both Bryant and Kathryn returned in the boat but were intercepted in the Laguna Madre near Port Mansfield.
ICE agents arrested Valdez driving the truck on his way back home and arrested the immigrants as they left Snoopy’s Restaurant in a taxi.
Court records show that three of the six immigrants are being held as material witnesses in the case.
Paulo Cesar Fernandez-Tabares told authorities he planned to go to San Antonio and paid $1,500 for the boat ride.
Jesus Valencia-Cisneros and Jose Gomez-Cuevas told investigators they traveled from their Mexican home in Tequlcatepec, Michoacan, to Reynosa and paid a smuggler $45 to cross the Rio Grande in a boat.
The two men stayed for several days in a McAllen hotel but were deported after their group of 10 was caught by the U.S. Coast Guard on another boat.
Valencia-Cisneros and Gomez-Cuevas said they came back and tried their luck with Bryant’s group.
The three men identified both Bryant and Valdez.
schapa@brownsvilleherald.com
Catch, and catch, and catch, and catch, and catch, and......
MM Navy Ping!
Build a fence and we'll see more Mexicano yachtsmen
Our battle is not with the Senators who voted on the "Senate Version" on the bill....the two bill are "oceans" apart.. with the house version being a MUCH BETTER BILL !! our battle is with the Senators who will go to conference with house.. which I just found out will be ALL MEMBERS of the Judiciary Committee and then some additional Senators yet to be named by Reid and Frist !!!...
WE NEED TO LET THESE FOLKS KNOW that we SUPPORT THE HOUSE VERSION !! NOT THE SENATE VERSION !!! now get er done !!
---> for now we can focus our efforts on the JUDICIARY COMMITTEE MEMEBERS !!!
Arlen Specter Orrin G. Hatch Patrick J. Leahy Charles E. Grassley Edward M. Kennedy Jon Kyl Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Mike DeWine Hrbert Kohl Jeff Sessions Dianne Feinstein Lindsey Graham Russell D. Feingold John Cornyn Charles E. Schumer Sam Brownback Richard J. Durbin Tom Coburn
I have written an OPEN LETTER to the conferees and I encouge EVERYONE who cares about this to do the same.... feel free to copy/edit/distribute my letter..
Thanks for posting this.
I heard from friends up here that there have been illegals coming across there for years.
Ping
The smuggler's boat and his truck should have been seized because he was profiting from this criminal enterprise. Why shouldn't human smugglers get the same punishment as drug smugglers?
The truck and boat were seised. This guy is my boss and his boat was parked right next to mine till the feds took it lol
nick
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