Man Charged with Federal Crime After Jumping Off Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship to Avoid Gambling Debt
A man who jumped off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship near the Port of San Juan over the weekend — allegedly to avoid paying off more than $16,000 in gambling debt to the cruise line — has been charged with a federal crime, authorities said. Jey Gonzalez-Diaz embarked on the Rhapsody of the Seas at the Port of San Juan on Aug. 31, according to a criminal complaint filed Sunday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
The cruise ship returned from Barbados on Sunday — when Gonzalez-Diaz jumped into the water as the ship disembarked around 9:15 a.m. local time, during U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection, the criminal complaint said. Gonzalez-Diaz was then brought to shore by someone passing by on a jet ski, investigators said. The moment was captured on surveillance video.
Investigation and Charges
CBP officers later located Gonzalez-Diaz near the Puerto Rico Capitol Building, court documents said. He was carrying $14,600 in cash, two phones and five IDs. Gonzalez-Diaz is accused of attempting to avoid monetary reporting requirements when traveling into the United States, according to the criminal complaint.
As stated in the complaint, Gonzalez-Diaz told officers in Spanish that he jumped off the cruise ship because “he did not want to report the currency on his possession because he thought he was going to be taxed duties for bring in the currency.” Upon further investigation, Royal Caribbean told investigators that Gonzalez-Diaz was booked under the name Jeremy Diaz, and that he owed $16,710.24 to the cruise line, according to the complaint.
The debt was “almost exclusively associated to Casino and Gaming expenses,” the complaint said. Other record checks of Gonzalez-Diaz’s multiple identifications also revealed that a Jeremy Omar Gonzalez-Diaz has been in federal custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, since January, according to the complaint. Jey Gonzalez-Diaz told investigators that it was his brother.
Possible Penalties and Next Steps
If convicted, Jey Gonzalez-Diaz could face a fine up to $250,000 or a maximum five-year prison sentence, or both. It wasn’t immediately clear if he has legal representation. Jey Gonzalez-Diaz was later released on bail, local media Wapa.TV reported.
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