After pursuit at sea, captain busted trying to smuggle illegal immigrants into South Florida
The boat entering the Hillsboro Inlet might have gone unnoticed, if the captain hadn’t made an “aggressive” U-turn beside a sheriff’s boat and headed back out to sea. Broward sheriff’s deputies called out and signaled for the captain to stop. But he just gave them a thumbs up, pointed in an easterly direction and kept going, investigators said. Sheriff’s deputies said they followed the boat — and only gave up when they were 25 miles off shore.The Sept. 14 excursion eventually ended with boat captain James Sawyer’s arrest on federal charges he tried to illegally smuggle 15 people into the U.S. On Thursday, he pleaded not guilty. A Coast Guard cutter stopped the boat nearly three hours after it left the inlet, about 10 p.m. Only two men were visible on the boat, but officers quickly discovered there was a total of 18 people on board. Read the rest here 20:38
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