A federal grand jury in Miami handed down indictments Wednesday against five men tied to a botched smuggling attempt that saw two dozen people packed onto a small boat headed for Florida. The group was intercepted just miles from the coast in late April, leading to charges for the captain and four passengers with criminal records.
The drama began just after midnight on April 26 when law enforcement radar picked up a blip moving west toward Miami-Dade County. Patrol boats moved in on the target—a small center-console vessel cutting through the dark with its navigation lights turned off about five miles offshore. When officers hit their sirens and lights, the boat finally slowed to a halt.
Federal agents found 25 people crammed onto the small vessel. Among those detained was the operator, 38-year-old Verdant Roosevelt Scott of The Bahamas…