A San Diego man has pleaded guilty to causing the deaths of three people he was transporting on his boat that capsized off Point Loma.
Antonio Hurtado, 40, admitted that he picked up 32 people in Mexican waters whom he charged between $15,000 and $18,000 each for transporting them to the San Diego coast. Still, during the voyage, he consumed controlled substances on several occasions and lost his sense of getting high.
In addition to driving the boat under the influence of drugs, Hurtado suffered an engine failure. As a result, the ship drifted in choppy waters until the boat ran aground, approximately 50 yards from shore near the Point Loma pools.
When the boat sank on one side, Hurtado jumped into the water and tried to flee, leaving the 32 passengers on the ship.
Many witnesses, including park officials, tried to save everyone but three Mexicans lost their lives, Maricela Hernández Sánchez, Víctor Pérez Degollado and María Eugenia Chávez-Segovia.
Hurtado was identified shortly after as the driver of the boat. Border Patrol detained him and took him to his Imperial Beach barracks, where Hurtado kneed an officer in the head who was trying to place an ankle restraint on him.
The events occurred in May 2020, the court scheduled the trial against Hurtado for May of last year, but the defendant pleaded guilty to several charges to reduce his sentence.
He pleaded guilty to one count of Attempt to Bring Illegal Aliens Resulting in Death; three counts of Attempt to Bring Illegal Aliens for Financial Gain; and one count of assault on a federal officer.
"The disregard for the safety of migrants is a common trait among smugglers," said Brandon Tucker, Director of Air and Marine Operations in San Diego.
He warned that "too often these dangerous decisions have fatal consequences. So my mission has been to pursue smugglers who endanger the lives of migrants."
The federal prosecutor in San Diego, Randy Grossman, said that "this was a horrible tragedy that should never have happened."
Grossman reiterated, "I'll repeat it: Never trust a smuggler. They only care about money. They don't care about his safety. It's not worth risking your life."
