A court has sentenced Saul Enrique José De La Cruz to 24 months’ incarceration, followed by two years’ supervised release.
Co-defendant Simon De La Cruz Paredes was similarly sentenced. The Dominican nationals attempted to smuggle goods from the United States and failed to allow the U.S. Coast Guard to board their vessel. They pleaded guilty to smuggling and Lacey Act trafficking (18 U.S.C. § 554; 16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(1), (a)(4), 3373(d)(1)(B)).
Paredes and La Cruz were sentenced on November 14 and November 21, 2024, respectively.
On February 21, 2024, while on patrol, a Customs and Border Protection aircraft detected a suspicious vessel approximately 39 nautical miles north of Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
The U.S. Coast Guard responded to interdict the vessel, which was flagless and outfitted for smuggling.
Upon approach, Saul Enrique José De La Cruz and Simon De La Cruz Paredes failed to stop the vessel, forcing authorities to shoot out the engines. Following the vessel boarding, officials found 22 plastic bags (each holding approximately 5,000 live juvenile American eels), bottles of oxygen, a handgun, and a backpack full of ammunition.
The men stated that they had caught the eels in Puerto Rico and planned to sell them in the Dominican Republic.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation, with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, the Puerto Rico Police Bureau Joint Forces of Rapid Action, and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources.