Coral Gables human smuggling operation suspects identified as Cuban citizens, federal documents say
MIAMI — Three Cuban citizens have been identified as the suspects involved in a human smuggling operation involving nearly two dozen migrants that was discovered last week in Coral Gables, federal documents said.
According to the federal criminal complaint obtained by CBS News Miami, Lucas Sedeno-Rodriguez, Jose Luis Villares and Keiner Cicilia-Rodriguez were arrested for their connection to Friday's human smuggling operation that involved over 20 migrants, including predominantly Chinese nationals plus Ecuadorian and Cuban nationals.
According to the federal complaint, all three men are Cuban nationals.
The discovery
On Friday morning, Coral Gables Police were alerted by a concerned resident of a possible abduction witnessed near the Snapper Creek Lakes neighborhood of Coral Gables.
The resident approached a law enforcement officer, telling them they saw a Toyota Corolla with Texas license plates parked close to a U-Haul van and a man "forcibly shoved a woman into the back seat" of the Corolla, the federal complaint said. The resident then showed the law enforcement officer cellphone video of the incident. As the incident was being reported, the suspected Corolla and U-Haul van drove past them both, prompting the law enforcement officer to issue a "be on the lookout" call for the two vehicles. Shortly after, Coral Gables Police saw both vehicles together and conducted a traffic stop.
During the traffic stop, law enforcement officers found 23 people inside the U-Haul van, including its driver Villares, and over a dozen undocumented migrants who were "citizens of China and Ecuador," the federal complaint said. Inside the Corolla, law enforcement officers found the driver Sedeno-Rodriguez and his passenger Cicilia-Rodriguez, along with more undocumented migrants who were "citizens of Ecuador and Brazil," including the woman that the concerned resident saw earlier.
Upon further investigation, law enforcement officers also found that cardboard boxes were affixed to the U-Haul van's rear windows so that the migrants could not be seen from the outside and that it didn't have any seats affixed other than the driver's seat and front passenger seat. According to the federal complaint, the window coverings and minimal seating "is consistent with the tactics used by human smugglers to camouflage and smuggle migrants."
According to the federal complaint, law enforcement officers found that none of the migrants had any large items with them. They carried only personal things, such as jewelry, cell phones and chargers. They also didn't carry any items that tourists would typically carry, such as sunscreen and cameras, further confirming law enforcement's suspicion that they encountered a human smuggling operation.
During their investigation, law enforcement found that the migrants were involved in a maritime smuggling event that had recently arrived by boat from the Bahamas, the federal complaint said. All the migrants found were then taken into custody and brought to the U.S. Border Patrol station in Dania Beach, where it was revealed that none of them had "the proper documentation or permission to enter or remain in the United States."
Law enforcement's questioning
In a post-Miranda interview, Sedeno-Rodriguez said he was approached in Homestead by a person named "Miggy," who he knew to be involved in human smuggling from the Bahamas, to pick up undocumented migrants by vehicle and take them to another location. Another individual known as "Pito" was supposed to provide him the migrants' final destination. According to the federal complaint, Sedeno-Rodriguez was expected to be paid $5,000 by Pito for this operation.
In his post-Miranda Interview, Villares said that Sedeno Rodriguez recruited him to help transport the migrants and that he would be paid $500 for his assistance. The federal complaint said that Villares also said that Cicilia-Rodriguez rented the U-Haul van and that the plan for the three was to pick up the migrants and drop them off near a hardware store in Miami-Dade County.
Cilicia-Rodriguez said in his post-Miranda interview that he was the owner of the Toyota Corolla and that Sedeno Rodriguez approached him and instructed him to rent the U-Haul van. Cicilia Rodriguez also said on the morning of the operation, he drove to Sedeno-Rodriguez's home, picked him and Villares up, and drove to the pickup location for the undocumented migrants.
During their investigation, law enforcement also interviewed multiple migrants, all of whom identified Villares, Sedeno-Rodriguez and Cicilia-Rodriguez as the men who smuggled them. The three men were then taken into custody.
