SAN DIEGO \u2013 A boat captain who attempted to smuggle 21 noncitizens in May 2021, resulting in the death of three people, was sentenced Aug. 12 in federal court following a multiagency investigation that included Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), the Harbor Police Department, the National Park Service, San Diego Lifeguard Services, San Diego Air and Marine Branch, and U.S. Border Patrol.<\/p>\n
Following the investigation, Antonio Hurtado was sentenced to 18 years in prison. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino stated this \u201cis the most egregious case I\u2019ve ever had in my courtroom in over 15 years in the Southern District of California.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHuman smugglers have no respect for human life, as demonstrated by this defendant,\u201d said Chad Plantz, special agent in charge for HSI San Diego. \u201cThe deaths in this investigation could have been prevented had the defendant not treated these victims like dispensable cargo; HSI will not tolerate transnational criminal organizations attempting to further their multi-billion-dollar enterprise in San Diego. HSI is committed to investigating smugglers and holding them accountable for their actions.\u201d
\nAs detailed in pleadings filed prior to the hearing, during the afternoon and evening of May 1, 2021, smugglers in Puerto Neuvo, Baja California, Mexico, shuttled undocumented migrants from the beach to a location approximately two hours offshore near the Coronado Islands where Hurtado and his 40-foot boat \u2013 named the \u201cSalty Lady\u201d \u2013 were waiting. Those individuals \u2013 including three unaccompanied minors \u2013 had agreed to pay between $15,000 and $18,000 to be smuggled into the United States illegally.<\/p>\n
Hurtado piloted his boat and its occupants through rainy conditions and rough seas from Mexico into United States territorial waters. Along the way, according to many of the smuggled migrants, Hurtado repeatedly used controlled substances and even lost consciousness for over an hour before passengers were finally able to wake him. Shortly thereafter, the vessel sustained engine failure. Hurtado ignored his passengers\u2019 pleas to call the USCG for help, and the vessel drifted closer and closer to land, inevitably running aground approximately 50 yards from shore near Point Loma. Knowing his boat was doomed as waves battered it and it began to list on its side, Hurtado jumped into the water and made his way to shore, abandoning his passengers \u2013 who had concealed themselves in the cabin below deck at his direction \u2013 leaving them to fend for themselves. When the vessel broke apart from the pounding of the surf, the passengers were thrown into the water.<\/p>\n
Park Rangers stationed at nearby Cabrillo National Park saw this event unfolding and immediately called the Coast Guard. Multiple federal agencies also responded to the scene and began a massive rescue and recovery effort. Thanks to their swift response, they were able to rescue 29 undocumented migrants from the water. Tragically, they recovered three individuals who had been aboard the boat and did not survive \u2013 Maricela Hernandez-Sanchez, Victor Perez-Degollado, and Maria Eugenia Chavez-Segovia. Subsequently, the medical examiner determined that these three individuals had sustained blunt force trauma and drowned.<\/p>\n
Based on statements from the surviving undocumented migrants, Hurtado was identified as the pilot of the boat, taken into custody, and transported to a Border Patrol station for processing. However, while there, he advised that he was \u201ccoming down\u201d from his prior use of a controlled substance, so agents brought him to a hospital to detox. In the Border Patrol station, Border Patrol Agent Xalick Castorena knelt beside defendant and attempted to apply an ankle restraint for security during transportation. When he did so, Hurtado looked around the room as if to assess the situation, turned to the left, and slammed his right knee into the side of Agent Castorena\u2019s face, committing an assault on a federal officer that Judge Sammartino referred to as \u201cviolent\u201d and \u201cawful.\u201d<\/p>\n