After four people died when a boat capsized south of San Diego, federal prosecutors filed charges against the alleged captain.
David Alfonso Barrera, a 37-year-old Mexican national, was arrested on Saturday and charged Monday with two counts related to smuggling immigrants for financial gain and smuggling resulting in death.
Another man, a 39-year-old Mexican national who was aboard the panga, was charged with re-entering the country days after he was removed on Nov. 3.
U.S. Border Patrol agents were notified late Friday of a panga boat crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. An hour later, agents spotted the capsized vessel with several people emerging from the waters off Imperial Beach.
Of the nine people believed to have been aboard the vessel, four died and five were rescued, detained or both, federal officials said. A probable-cause statement attached to the criminal complaint lays out what investigators learned from the survivors — four men and a woman, all of whom said they were Mexican citizens.
They said they boarded the small blue boat in Rosarito late Friday. As it headed north to the United States, engine trouble hit.
The captain began to argue with others about whether to head back to Mexico, one survivor told authorities. The captain pressed ahead, the surviving passenger said, according to court documents, and called someone to request a closer drop location. Then the boat capsized.
“Bad weather, rough seas, a dangerous and overloaded vessel — these were all risks that smugglers were willing to disregard in their desire for profit,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon in a statement. “Maritime smuggling is extremely dangerous, and we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law every individual responsible for these preventable tragedies.”
Federal prosecutors identified the three deceased men as Bartolo Baltazar Baltazar, Epifanio Molina Bravo and Hector Lopez Lopez. The Mexican Consulate in San Diego confirmed that they were Mexican nationals, two from the state of Veracruz and one from Guanajuato. A woman who has not yet been identified was also among the victims.
Barrera, the accused captain, told authorities that he was not the operator but a passenger and had paid more than $13,000 to be smuggled across the border, according to the court document. He told investigators the operator of the boat was a skinny man around his age. But when he was shown photos of all the people rescued or recovered from the incident, he said the operator was not in the photographs.
The man charged with illegal re-entry told agents he’d agreed to pay about $16,000 to be brought to the U.S. and was hoping to be with family in the Riverside area. He was deported from the U.S. after conviction of a felony in 2012 . The court document states he has had his order of removal reinstated three times — the last removal came less than two weeks before the deadly capsizing.