25044: Hermantin(News)Suspected smuggler held with 6 new immigrants (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>



Suspected smuggler held with 6 new immigrants
By Pam Perez

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, May 07, 2005

TEQUESTA — A Fort Myers man known for alien smuggling faced new charges
Friday for transporting six Haitian immigrants from the Bahamas.

Tequesta police patrolling the coast along Coral Cove Park around 6 a.m.
found American-born John Kittles, 43, and a Pine Island resident among a
group of six Haitian immigrants after the group landed an 18-foot motorboat
on the park beach, said Officer Brian Youngblood.

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U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Kittles, who had a portable navigating
system, when they found him and the immigrants between the 100 and 400
blocks of Beach Road.

He is wanted on an outstanding warrant from the U.S. Marshall's Service for
a previous charge of alien smuggling, investigators said.

Under questioning, Kittles said little in his defense.

"He just kind of had a casual grin on his face," Youngblood said.

The four men and two women, all from Haiti, were found in wooded areas in
the park and nearby condominiums by police, who turned them over to the
Border Patrol.

They were taken to Krome Detention Center near Miami after one woman was
treated and released for dehydration at Jupiter Medical Center.

The Border Patrol is investigating whether Kittles is part of a larger-scale
immigrant smuggling ring.

This was the second day boats have dropped immigrants off in northern Palm
Beach County.

The boat landing caused quite a stir. Tequesta police, the U.S. Coast Guard,
Border Patrol, a Sheriff's helicopter, Jupiter Inlet Colony police and park
rangers joined in a wide search of the area.

On Thursday, Border Patrol agents arrested 21 people after they landed near
the Jupiter Lighthouse around 5:30 a.m. and were seen walking near a gas
station along U.S. 1 and Alternate A1A. The group consisted of nine
Jamaicans, 11 Haitians and one person from the Dominican Republic. They all
said they were smuggled in by the same boat operator from Freeport, in the
Bahamas.

"The activity in that area has picked up," said Michael McClarnon, a Border
Patrol agent based in Riviera Beach.

That has put local police on alert in anticipation of more arrivals. The
recent fair weather may also be contributing to the increased number of
arrivals.

"It makes it a little easier for these people to get here," Youngblood said.
"This is the time of the year it happens. They're coming in 18-foot boats
and going across the Gulf Stream. It gives you a little bit of an insight
into their desperation."