Fourteen of the 20 people aboard the panga were determined to have criminal records that resulted in their deportation from the United States, El Segundo police Lt. Ray Garcia said. Their crimes included burglary, robbery, spousal abuse, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and LSD, weapons possession, animal cruelty, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder and murder.
The Mexican-style panga hit the shore at 6:45 a.m. Wednesday on the beach south of the Chevron refinery near the NRG power plant, federal officials said.
A boatload of smuggled illegal immigrants who landed on an El Segundo beach this week included an array of felons previously deported from the United States for offenses ranging from drug possession to murder, authorities said Friday.
The passengers braved a night aboard a small fishing boat on rough water in darkness, traveling in the early hours of Wednesday morning beyond Coronado and Catalina islands as they tried to slip undetected from Tijuana to Southern California, states a court affidavit.
Most had intended to pay up to $8,500 to smugglers to bring them to Los Angeles. The affidavit, filed by a sheriff’s deputy in U.S. District Court, indicated the boat’s pilot and navigators became lost at sea, intending to land in Long Beach or San Pedro.
Instead, they came ashore in front of the NRG power plant in El Segundo, where witnesses spotted them and facility fences prevented them from climbing onto Vista del Mar. Police officers quickly corralled them.
On board the boat were 15 Mexican nationals, including a 14-year-old boy, three Mexican women, one male Salvadoran and one Chinese woman, authorities said.
Seven of the passengers told federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Border Patrol agents that they began their voyage in Mexico late Tuesday after arranging with smugglers to take them by sea to the United States.
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