More Than 30 Suspected Cuban Migrants Found In Boat During Keys Traffic Stop
MARATHON (CBSMiami) - More than 30 suspected Cuban migrants were found hiding in a go-fast boat during a traffic stop on U.S. 1 in the Florida Keys on Monday morning.
The group included two pregnant women, three young children ages 1½, 4, and 5 in the truck pulling the boat, and a 17-year-old for a total of 32 suspect migrants.
A Monroe County sheriff's deputy pulled over the rental truck around 6 a.m. after he noticed it going slower than the speed limit. The deputy noted the children in the truck, the lack of child safety seats as well as the overwhelming smell of saltwater and body odor.
The driver of the truck, 29-year-old Reidel Garcia-Espino, was charged with child neglect since none of the three children in the truck were restrained by any type of seat belt or child seat.
Garcia-Espino said they had been fishing, but the sheriff's office said there was no fishing gear on the boat.
The migrants were turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Garcia-Espino was taken to jail on the child neglect charge.
