It’s not just cigars, human Cubans are illegal as well

Don’t let the title, money and perks fool ya, being a sports agent is a tough job. They are constantly on the prowl in search of today’s top athletes and will travel the globe to find them. But Gustavo Dominguez might have missed the memo on exactly how to recruit such superstar potential from abroad.

Dominguez was found guilty of 21 federal charges that include conspiracy, smuggling, transporting and harboring after he illegally smuggled five Cuban baseball players into the country. Apparently, Dominguez figured that if he got the prospects to the United States, they would be indebted to him during their possible pro careers. But now, all that Dominguez has to look forward to is a jail cell because most of the charges have a maximum penalty of 10 years.

Dominguez claims that he is innocent and plans to appeal the verdict, but the evidence against him just might be too strong to overturn. Especially considering that there is a paper trail which shows Dominguez’s client, Cubs catcher Henry Blanco, made payments of $225,000 to a known drug trafficker. However, Dominguez claimed that he paid the money because he was threatened by the trafficker to pay for another illegally smuggled client.

I believed my family was under threat — those kids are my life,” Dominguez said Thursday while testifying in his own defense. “I don’t care what you say, I will pay whatever it takes to get that piece of cockroach away from me.

Hey, we don’t doubt that the guy is probably a “piece of cockroach” but Dominguez basically shot himself in the foot by not informing the police of the threat and also by inviting the dude over to his house for a birthday party in 2004.

This never would have happened if he would have learned the ropes from Jerry Maguire. While Drew Rosenhaus might be one of the most annoying men on the planet, at least he knows not to get caught up in a human trafficking ring.

Links:

[Miami Herald]: Sports agent guilty in Cuban ballplayer case
[Reuters]: U.S. sports agent convicted of smuggling Cubans