The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Hernandez, Estrada guilty of smuggling
Agent Bartolo Hernandez and trainer Julio Estrada were found guilty of smuggling and conspiracy and both will see several years in prison.
MIAMI » A sports agent and a baseball trainer convicted of operating a sophisticated, sometimes violent network that smuggled Cuban players to the U.S. were sentenced to prison Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ordered a sentence of nearly four years for agent Bartolo Hernandez and just over five years for trainer Julio Estrada. Both were convicted by a jury in March of conspiracy and alien smuggling charges that included some high-profile Major League Baseball players who paid them a cut of their lucrative contracts.
During a four-hour hearing, Williams heard from numerous friends and family members of the two men about how close they remain with most of the players who made it to the U.S. and how involved they are with youth baseball in South Florida. Williams acknowledged what she called a “paradox” between the upstanding community figure and smuggler within both men.
But she said the case, which came to a close a day after this year’s World Series ended, is actually fairly simple.
“This case is not about fulfilling dreams. This case is certainly not about love of the game. This case is about money, millions andmillions of dollars,” the judge said.
Hernandez, Estrada and members of the smuggling network received about $20 million for Cuban player contracts worth about $230 million, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Davidson.
“The truth is, these defendants corrupted young men. They attempted to corrupt the process,” Davidson said.
Hernandez and Estrada were ordered to surrender Dec. 14 to begin serving their sentences.
Trial evidence showed an existing Cuban smuggling operation that brought people from the communistrun island to Mexico became the platform in 2009 for the muchmore lucrative trade in elite ballplayers. People involved in that operation testified it was ultimately overseen byHernandez and Estrada, and it had connections to the violent Zetas drug cartel in Mexico.
The players would be whisked fromCuba to Mexico or Haiti in a speedboat, sign papers claiming residency in their new country and eventually be cleared to sign withMLB teams. Prosecutors showed jurors how many of those documents contained false information, such as made-up jobs for players, and some travel documents were forged.
One player, Chicago White Sox star Jose Abreu, testified that he ate pieces of his phony Haitian passport while flying to the U.S. in 2013 because he feared repercussions if he landed in Miami with a false document. Abreu later signed a $68 million deal with the White Sox.
Other players smuggled into the U.S. by the operation are Adeiny Hechavarria of the Tampa Bay Rays and Leonys Martin of the Chicago Cubs. Many others played in the major andmi- nor leagues.
Minor leaguer Reinier Roibal testified about witnessing an armed confrontation at a Mexican boatyard between one of the smuggling ring’s original leaders, Joan “Nacho” Garcia, and a group of men. Roibal said he heard gunshots andGarcia, who prosecutors called “the chief thug of Cancun,” was never heard from again.
Attorneys for Hernandez and Estrada sought Thursday to minimize howmuch they profited fromthe operation, highlighting instead their good works in South Florida’s baseball world and how they helped talented players realize their MLB dreams by escaping an oppressive government in Cuba.