BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS Fisherman acquitted of...

BRIEFLY IN

THE NEWS

Fisherman acquitted of smuggling

The captain and chief engineer of a Taiwanese fishing trawler

accused of smuggling 10 Chinese nationals onto Crystal Cove State

Beach, were acquitted of the charge Monday.

Jin Yinn Wang, the vessel’s captain, and co-defendant Jin Lon Guo

said they were not smugglers and had not been paid $10,000 per person

to bring the 10 into the United States.

A group of partyers last May spotted the men paddling ashore naked

and then getting dressed in suits and baseball hats on the beach.

When taken into custody and questioned by authorities, the men said

they had been held on the trawler in squalid conditions during their

trip across the Pacific.

Wang and Guo said they were fishing for sharks 600 miles off

Hawaii when the 10-member crew turned on them and forced them to

bring the ship to the United States.

Federal prosecutors thought they had a strong case “demonstrating

that these two men were responsible for smuggling these individuals,”

said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los

Angeles.

“The jury decided there was reasonable doubt,” he said. “We accept

their verdict.”

The 10 men were held as material witnesses and nine of them

testified in the case, Mrozek said. He said all the men have been

turned over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The INS cannot comment on specifics about the case, said Francisco

Arcaute, spokesman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs

Enforcement.

“Generally, when individuals [who are not legal immigrants] are

done with their legal issues, they are referred to us,” he said. “And

very often, they are sent back to their country of origin.”

-- Deepa Bharath