Hostage ring threatened to leave Cuban migrants in the middle of the ocean, feds say

Three South Florida men face possible life prison sentences after being accused by federal agents of holding Cuban migrants hostage in a Hialeah stash house in exchange for $15,000 from their loved ones.

The men even threatened to leave the migrants in the middle of the ocean if family or friends didn’t come through with the ransom, according to the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the Hialeah Police Department.

A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted Didier Perez Perez, Lester Leyniel Soca Diaz and Yoandy Alonso on several felony charges, including conspiracy to harbor and transport migrants for profit and hostage taking. The latter charge has a maximum penalty of life behind bars.

A judge ordered all three men held in federal detention until their trials.

The migrants were brought by smugglers to the Florida Keys on a speedboat in August. Two of the victims told agents there were about 15 people on the boat.

A friend of one of the victims called the police on Sept. 2, a day after that person was contacted by the men and told the victim would be held captive until the ransom was paid, according to a Sept. 6 FBI complaint filed in federal court.

The friend was told to meet one of the hostage takers at a gas station in Miami-Dade County. There the person was met by a man driving a Slingshot car who was wearing sunglasses and an American flag face mask, according to the complaint.

The man drove the friend to a vacant parking lot, where a white Chevrolet Impala was parked. Inside the car were the victim and two other hostage takers, the complaint states.

The friend told agents there was a firearm in the front seat of the car. The hostage takers said that if the money wasn’t paid the next day, they would either leave the victim in the middle of the ocean or return him to Cuba.

After the friend contacted the police, agents had the person make a recorded phone call in which the person offered $5,000 and a gold chain worth $2,000 in lieu of the total $15,000 ransom. The hostage taker agreed, and said they could make the exchange at a Hialeah parking lot.

That afternoon, the friend and an undercover officer went to the parking lot where the victim, Soca Diaz and Perez Perez were sitting in a Chevy Suburban SUV. The friend opened the door, and one of the men said to get the money, and he would release the victim.

Police and agents then rushed the car, arrested Soca Diaz and Perez Perez and rescued the victim, according to the complaint.

Meanwhile, other agents were staking out the house in Hialeah where the victim reported being held. They saw four people, who turned out to be Cuban migrants, being loaded into a van.

As the van backed out of the driveway and began to head away from the house, cops pulled it over and arrested the driver, Yoandy Alonso, according to the complaint.

The case unfolded as South Florida is experiencing its highest influx of Cuban maritime migration in nearly a decade. Many of the people are coming on makeshift rafts and fishing boats, but many others are being smuggled into the country.

Federal agents arrested two Bradenton men earlier this week on smuggling charges after stopping them at sea off Key Largo transporting 17 people from Cuba.

This is also not the first time in recent months that smugglers have been holding migrants hostage in stash houses for ransom. In August, Homeland Security Investigations agents pulled over a windowless van and found five people from Cuba inside.

The van had just left a stash house in Opa-locka, agents said. Like in this case, the migrants were brought by go-fast boat to the Florida Keys before being taken to the mainland and held for $15,000.

Lawyers representing Soca Diaz did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Michael Mirer, attorney for Perez Perez and Frank Schwartz, attorney for Alonso, declined to comment.