Two plead guilty to roles in fatal human smuggling attempt near Del Mar

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KESQ) - Two men pleaded guilty to federal charges today for piloting a panga boat that capsized during a human-smuggling attempt off the coast of Del Mar, leading to the deaths of four people, including two children.   

The mass-casualty accident involved a boat loaded with 19 people that left Mexico on May 4, 2025, then overturned the following day.   

Emergency crews responding to the incident found the bodies of 18-year- old Marcos Lozada-Juarez, 55-year-old Gorgonio Placido-Diaz and 14-year-old Prince Patel. Prince's 10-year-old sister, Mahi, also died, but her remains were not discovered until a few weeks later.

Several other occupants of the boat -- including the children's parents -- were hospitalized for injuries ranging in severity from minor to critical.

Jesus Ivan Rodriguez-Leyva, 27, and Julio Cesar Zuniga-Luna, 31, entered their guilty pleas in a San Diego federal courtroom on Tuesday morning to charges of bringing in aliens resulting in death and bringing in aliens for financial gain.

Prosecutors say Rodriguez-Leyva was acting as the boat's captain, while Zuniga-Luna was a co-captain who also fueled the vessel.   

According to their plea agreements, migrants were paying around $13,000 each to be smuggled into the U.S., while Rodriguez-Leyva and Zuniga-Luna received reduced smuggling fees in exchange for transporting the other migrants.

In court, a prosecutor recounted statements from several migrants who survived the incident, who each described the defendants instructing them to remove their life jackets when they got close to the shore.

The vessel was also plagued by engine issues, including one that forced the boat to return to Mexico shortly after it departed on May 4, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Van Demark said.

After the initial engine problem was resolved, the engine continued to have issues during the trip and finally failed while the boat was around 200 yards off the coast of Del Mar, resulting in the vessel rotating in the water and being overturned by a wave, the prosecutor said.

Rodriguez-Leyva and Zuniga-Luna were arrested on the beach, while three others were arrested in vehicles that had picked up some of the migrants who arrived on the vessel, prosecutors said.

The three other defendants pleaded guilty to various charges and have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 21 months.   

Rodriguez-Leyva and Zuniga-Luna are slated to be sentenced in June.