Source: Office of United States Attorneys
MIAMI – On Jan. 21, Yaquelin Dominguez-Nieves, 26, of Sebring, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court in Miami to conspiring to smuggle aliens into the United States.
According to court documents and information presented during the case’s detention hearing, around November 2022, Dominguez-Nieves, who entered the United States illegally, collected at least $11,500 from the migrants’ family members in South Florida with the promise to smuggle the migrants from Cuba into the United States. Dominguez-Nieves transferred the money she collected to her co-conspirator located in Cuba. Then, Dominguez-Nieves’s co-conspirator loaded approximately 18 migrants onto a small fishing vessel with no life jackets and with a captain who, according to the two survivors, did not appear to know how to operate the vessel. The vessel sank roughly 30 miles into its journey to the United States, killing all but two migrants aboard. Many of the 16 victims were young children and teenagers, including children ranging from nine months to seven years old, as well as two 16-year-olds. Four of the migrants’ bodies were recovered at sea, and their cause of death was ruled drowning.
A sentencing hearing is set for April 11, at 11:00 a.m. in Miami. Dominguez-Nieves faces up to life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.
Acting U.S. Attorney Michael S. Davis for the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. Margelot U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), Southeast Region, made the announcement.
CGIS, Southeast Region, investigated the case with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Key West, U.S. Border Patrol (BP) Miami Sector, Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office and Highlands County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO).
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Keller is prosecuting the case.
You may find a copy of this press release (and any updates) on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 24-cr-20223.
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