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Last man in 2005 Cuban smuggling case sentenced
The case involving 14 Cubans who arrived on Marco Island fell apart after two crucial witnesses left the state and were unavailable for trial
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A Miami man who once faced up to 30 years in prison on charges he helped smuggle 14 Cubans onto Marco Island in 2005 was sentenced Monday to time served in the county jail because two crucial witnesses weren’t available for trial.
Collier Circuit Judge Fred Hardt imposed the sentence on 46-year-old Mario Rojas Santana two weeks after his accomplice was sentenced under a similar deal. At the time, Assistant State Attorney Douglas Sprotte of the Economic Crimes Unit explained that he couldn’t proceed to trial because two deputies left the Collier County Sheriff’s Office and moved out of state, leaving him without crucial testimony.
Assistant State Attorney Jim Molenaar stood in for Sprotte on Monday during a brief sentencing hearing. Rojas pleaded no contest to dealing in stolen property, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison, and was sentenced to the 387 days he’s spent in jail.
The sentence was part of a plea agreement negotiated by Sprotte and Assistant Public Defender Michael Fogarty. The prosecution had already dropped the top charge, racketeering, and dismissed charges of grand theft and using a fraudulent identification as part of the plea bargain.
On July 1, Rojas’ accomplice, Rolando Gonzalez, 33, was sentenced to time served, nearly a year in jail, after pleading no contest to grand theft involving a powerboat used to smuggle the Cubans. The boat was purchased using an innocent man’s credit.
On Nov. 25, 2005, 14 illegal Cuban nationals, ranging from age 6 to 52, were discovered on Marco Island’s South Beach and claimed they’d made the journey aboard fishing boats. But deputies, assisted by the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Border Patrol, investigated and determined that Gonzalez, Jose Robaul-Banos, 35, of Golden Gate, and Ernesto Perez, 37, of Naples, were behind the smuggling operation.
On June 6, 2007, deputies stopped Gonzalez on Interstate 75 near Naples as he drove an SUV towing a boat. The others were arrested in July. Arrest reports provide the following account:
The 2007 Donzi powerboat belonged to a man named Anibal Rosado, whom Gonzalez claimed was a friend. He said he and Rosado had purchased the boat using Rosado’s credit, but couldn’t provide proof. A tracking device in the boat had been removed.
Deputies seized everything, saying they’d only return the boat to the owner, which turned out to be Grove Marine. Rojas showed up and claimed to be Rosado, but his license turned out to be fake and the real Rosado told deputies he’d never bought a boat.
Rojas confessed that days earlier, he’d been approached by a Cuban man named Aba, who introduced him to “Alex.” They paid him $40,000 to buy a boat and deliver it to Naples and helped him get the fake license. “Alex” filled out loan papers for him to sign and gave him a trailer. Rojas said he met Gonzalez a few weeks earlier and he helped him move the boat. He asked Gonzalez to tell everyone he was Rosado.
In February, Sprotte dropped charges against Robaul and Perez.
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when I read the headline I assumed that we were talking about cigars!
#1 Posted by Naplestango on July 14, 2008 at 10:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What a great Country, lets steal another boat.
#2 Posted by suntan on July 15, 2008 at 6:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Another once-solid case falls apart in the end. So it was impossible to subpoena out of state deputies?
No witnesses? How about those who were smuggled.
This outcome and the pevious one with grow house suspects being released are unacceptable. Someone with a suspicious mind might say the Cuban mafia had reached deeply into Collier County.
#3 Posted by Bramble on July 15, 2008 at 8:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Unbelievable. Florida by far has the dumbest judicial system
#4 Posted by sunburnt on July 15, 2008 at 10:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Why did this take 4 years to come to trial?
#5 Posted by Bramble on July 15, 2008 at 3:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Not paying to get the out-of-state witnesses no matter the cost is a just wrong! Bring them back First Class and put them up in the Ritz or arrange for Video testimony by both defense and the state. This is just tragic.
#6 Posted by ohgeorge on July 15, 2008 at 4:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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