Agent is found guilty of smuggling

In the first case of its kind against a prominent sports agent, Gustavo Dominguez was found guilty Thursday of smuggling Cuban baseball players to the U.S., then transporting them to California and harboring them for profit.

A South Florida jury also found Dominguez, 48, guilty of conspiracy, leaving the former Cal State Northridge pitcher facing the possibility of decades in federal prison. However, prosecutors suggested Dominguez, who remains free on a $25,000 bond, is likely to get a penalty closer to five years when he is sentenced July 9.

J. Stephen Salter, a member of Dominguez’s legal team, said an appeal will be filed.

Dominguez sat stoically between two of his attorneys as the 21 guilty verdicts were read, but his wife and two college-age children, seated in the back of the courtroom, sobbed loudly.

“I’m shocked,” said Steven Schneider, Dominguez’s partner at Total Sports International, an Encino firm that represents about 50 baseball players. “The facts don’t support this.”

After a long, emotional embrace with his family, Dominguez left the courthouse without commenting.

A grand jury indictment filed last fall originally charged Dominguez and four other defendants with 53 counts stemming from two smuggling trips in summer 2004 that brought 19 Cuban migrants, including five baseball players, to the Florida Keys.

Two of those defendants later reached plea bargains with the government, with one testifying against Dominguez.

The case against the fourth was dismissed this week; the fifth defendant, alleged fast-boat driver Roberto Yosvany Hernandez, was found not guilty of the seven charges he faced.

In reaching its verdict, the jury of eight men and four women, which deliberated four hours, relied heavily on the testimony of a convicted felon, Ysbel Medina-Santos, who admitted to arranging the smuggling trip and testified against Dominguez in the hope of getting a reduced sentence on drug charges.

The fact that many Cubans, including baseball players, are regularly spirited off the island to South Florida by smugglers using fast boats has never been a secret. Angels infielder Kendry Morales and Seattle Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt were brought to the U.S. by smugglers and later signed multimillion-dollar contracts.

But while ties between the smugglers and baseball agents have long been rumored, no agent had been charged with smuggling until the grand jury indictment against Dominguez in October.

He may not be the last one charged however. Government prosecutors are known to be looking into other cases in which agents may have been involved with smugglers.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com