Baseball - Agent Charged Feds Smuggling

The federal immigration bureau announced that an agent for baseball players illegally smuggled Cuban players into the United States. Besides he also attempted to ship them to California in hopes that they major league teams would signed the players.

Famous agent, Gustavo "Gus" Dominguez, has been charged for having paid four aides to transport the athletes and other Cubans to the U.S. in two trips from the island of Cuba. Dominguez, working for California-based Total Sports International, has represented several Cuban baseball defectors, including Andy Morales, who was signed by the New York Yankees and later the Boston Red Sox after fleeing Cuba six years ago. Other people including Geoffrey Rodrigues, Robert Yosvany Hernandez, Ramon Batista and Guillermo Valdez were charged in the 53-count federal indictment. All five men are charged with conspiracy to bring immigrants illegally into the United States, transporting them in violation of the law and concealing and harboring them from detection. As for Dominguez, Rodrigues and Hernandez they are also charged with immigrant smuggling. Eventually Rodrigues is accused of assaulting ICE agents when his boat was intercepted.

According to an assistant of Dominguez, whose identity has not been disclosed, explained thatTotal Sports would not comment and he wouldn't clarify the relationship of the four other defendants or whether they worked for the company. In addition Greg Bouris, who is the spokesman for the players association, clamed he had not been informed of the story.

According to the prosecutors, Rodrigues and Dominguez are alleged to have made a trip by boat to Cuba on July 28th in 2004 and loaded 22 Cubans aboard. However they have been intercepted by U.S. authorities while they were at sea. Less than a month later, on Aug. 22, 2004, immigration authorities announced that the two men managed successfully to bring 19 Cubans into the country.