He really thought this would work? 😂
Jey Gonzalez-Diaz was racking up some major debt in the casino of the Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas, to the tune of around $16,000, and decided he had a genius way out.
From CBS News:
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.
The boat docked in Puerto Rico and to avoid customs, Gonzales-Diaz jumped into the sea.
This didn't work out. He got in much, much more trouble than he would have if he left the ship with all the cash he had on hand.
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.
So the dude jumped ship with almost enough cash to pay off his casino debt, lied to customs about why he jumped ship, and now he owes Royal Caribbean while ALSO facing criminal charges that could cost him a quarter million dollars and/or five years in a federal prison.
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