Judge gives maximum 10 year sentences to 2 Cuban smugglers

Posted on Mon, Mar. 20, 2006

Judge gives maximum 10-year sentences to 2 Cuban smugglers
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com

Two Cuban immigrants who captained a smuggling mission that ended with
the drowning of a young boy received the maximum prison sentence on
Monday -- 10 years.

U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore hammered the two men after
concluding a six-year term proposed under federal sentencing guidelines
was not enough punishment for the child's death in the Oct. 13 illegal
crossing of the Florida Straits.

A lawyer for both Alexander Gil Rodriguez, 25, and Luis Manuel
Taboada-Cabrera, 28, whose relatives sobbed outside the courtroom, said
they will appeal the judge's sentences for their alien-smuggling
convictions. Attorney Steven Amster said the two Miami men, who were not
charged or convicted of causing the death of 6-year-old Julian
Villasuso, still faced up to the maximum prison term because his
drowning was a factor in the judge's sentencing under advisory guidelines.

''They understand their actions led to this death,'' Amster said,
acknowledging the two men sped off in their go-fast boat when the U.S.
Coast Guard tried to stop them. ``But their actions were not so
egregious to go above what the sentencing guidelines say.''

The two men had reached plea deals in November, expecting to receive
lighter sentences. They pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to smuggle 29
Cubans in a 33-foot speedboat that overturned and claimed the life of
the boy, who got trapped beneath the capsized vessel.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Washington said he didn't have enough
evidence to charge them with the death of Julian Villasuso.

The boy's death was factored into the sentencing guidelines, doubling
the initially proposed prison term from three to six years. But Moore,
who as a federal judge has the authority to go higher than those
advisory guidelines, didn't believe that penalty was sufficient.

''The question is whether the guidelines adequately take into account
the death they caused,'' Moore said at a hearing in February.

Moore has greater leeway to go above the federal sentencing guidelines.
Those guidelines had been mandatory until last year, when the U.S.
Supreme Court made them advisory to maintain their constitutionality.

Still, Moore's stiffer sentences for the two Miami men men would undergo
intense scrutiny on appeal.

The reason: In 2001, Jorge ''Bombino'' Aleman was arrested on charges
that he organized five smuggling runs between late 1999 and 2001 that
ferried more than 100 Cubans to Florida. A January 2001 voyage resulted
in the death of Cira Rodriguez, a Cuban who is believed to have died on
a small Bahamian cay after smugglers dumped her and the other passengers
on the island without food and water.

The following year, U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King sentenced
the defendant to life in prison plus five years, overriding the federal
sentencing guidelines that called for fewer than 13 years.

Then in 2004, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta threw
out what was the longest prison term in an alien-smuggling case,
ordering that Aleman be sentenced within the federal guidelines.

That ruling came down, however, when the guidelines were still mandatory.

At Monday's sentencing hearing, Taboada-Cabrera apologized to the judge,
community and others. ''I wish to say I'm really repentant about what
happened,'' he told the judge.

Rodriguez did not say anything in court.

Their attorney said the tragic smuggling trip was not for profit but was
rather to bring over their families. Amster said Rodriguez had three
family members, including his wife, aboard the speedboat, and that
Taboada-Cabrera was supposed to bring his wife and a daughter on the voyage.

Amster also said the U.S. Coast Guard may have played a role in the
capsizing of their speedboat that led to the boy's death. Coast Guard
officials strongly disagreed.

The alien-smuggling attempt occurred during the early morning of Oct.
13, when Coast Guard officials tracked down a Florida-registered
speedboat, carrying the 29 Cubans, about 52 miles south of Key West.

A chase ensued, as the Coast Guard crew deployed an ''entangling
device'' -- or net -- in front of the speedboat, according to court
papers. Finally, the vessel came to a stop. Then, numerous people stood
up on board and someone threw an object into the ocean.

''Water immediately began to flow into the stern of the vessel, due to
the shift in weight and the excess amount of individuals on board,''
according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement affidavit, causing
the boat to capsize and the passengers to fall overboard.

Authorities discovered the boy beneath the boat after rescuers pulled to
safety the other passengers, including the boy's parents and the smugglers.

Julian's parents and a third passenger with health problems were allowed
into the United States. The rest were repatriated to Cuba.

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