The U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of California Wednesday charged a man alleged to have captained a boat carrying 32 immigrants attempting to enter the U.S. via the Pacific Ocean.
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flies over boats searching the area where a boat capsized just off the San Diego coast Sunday, May 2, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
SAN DIEGO (CN) A man alleged to have piloted a boat carrying 32 immigrants attempting to enter the U.S. through the Pacific Ocean was charged Wednesday in the deadly human smuggling event where three immigrants drowned after the boat crashed in rough waters off the coast of San Diego.
Authorities provide update after Border Patrol responds to capsized migrant boat ripped into pieces.
A man who was the alleged pilot of a boat that was smuggling immigrants when it broke apart off San Diego’s coast, resulting in three deaths on Sunday, has been charged in federal court.
Investigators say Antonio Hurtado, a U.S. citizen, was piloting the boat. He was arrested on suspicion of bringing in or harboring illegal immigrants and assaulting a U.S. Border Patrol agent, according to the affidavit obtained by Fox News. Wreckage and debris from a capsized boat washes ashore at Cabrillo National Monument near where a boat capsized just off the San Diego coast Sunday, May 2, 2021, in San Diego.
Federal charges filed against alleged boat captain in deadly smuggling wreck
A National Park Service employee removes debris and wreckage from a human smuggling boat that ran aground at the tide pools at Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego.
(Denis Poroy)
SAN DIEGO
A man accused of piloting the boat that broke up on the rocks of Point Loma in a deadly human smuggling attempt has been charged in San Diego federal court, according to a complaint filed Wednesday.
Antonio Hurtado faces charges of attempting to bring in migrants at a place other than a port of entry and assault on a federal officer, both felonies.
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COAST GUARD HEADQUARTERS (KUSI) – A U.S. citizen was in custody today on suspicion of captaining a boat that crashed in coastal waters near Point Loma during an apparent human-smuggling operation, killing three people and injuring more than two dozen others, authorities said.
The captain, a man whose name and age were not immediately available, was turned over to U.S. Customs agents following the crash, Customs and Border Protection Supervisory Officer Javier Garcia said.
At about 10 a.m. Sunday, lifeguards were notified of a vessel experiencing trouble near the tidepools at Cabrillo National Monument, Garcia said. The reporting party initially told dispatchers one person was on board.