28950: Hermantin(news)Officials say five-day trip began in Haitin (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>



Human smuggling cited in 2nd death


Officials say five-day trip began in Haiti



By Michelle Sheldone
The Jupiter Courier

August 19, 2006



The death of a man whose body was found in the surf off Jupiter Island on 
Thursday is being investigated as a homicide, the second death this week 
attributed to alleged human smuggling.

The man, who had a broken right leg and was not wearing pants, is estimated to 
be between the ages of 20 and 30. Results were not yet available from a 
Treasure Coast Medical Examiner autopsy of the body, according to Jupiter 
Island Public Safety Sgt. Ted Gonzales.

A beach surveyor found the body just north of Blowing Rocks Preserve around 
1:43 p.m. Thursday.

The dead man is thought to be among a reported 14 individuals smuggled to South 
Florida from Haiti, eight of whom are in custody at the Broward County 
Transitional Center.

The man's broken leg "may have happened while the body was tumbling along the 
beach," Gonzales said. "There didn't appear to be any bruising."

Wednesday, officials found the floating body of Roselyn Lubin, 26, identified 
as a Bahamian, whose death was attributed to drowning, an autopsy revealed. She 
was thought to have family in the Fort Lauderdale area.

Survivors told investigators they traveled in a smuggling boat's cabin for a 
five-day voyage that began in Haiti on Friday night and that two crew members 
ordered them into the water about 25 to 50 yards from shore off Jupiter Island. 
They each had paid $2,500 for the trip to South Florida, reports stated.

One of the detainees is being investigated for drug-related charges after at 
least seven kilograms of cocaine emerged at the same time officials found eight 
survivors soaking wet at an area park and along roadways. Four were unaccounted 
for Friday.

Jupiter Island Public Safety Chief Bill Mason said Friday those seeking U.S. 
asylum in South Florida disembark boats at a sandbar that runs parallel to the 
beach about 50 yards from shore and mistakenly think they can walk to the 
coast.

"They get out of the boat thinking they're OK," Mason said. "The ones who can't 
swim hit a trough and go to the bottom. It's a tragedy, an absolute tragedy. My 
heart goes out to them."

Michelle Sheldone can be reached at michelle.sheldone@ scripps.com.


Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel