MIAMI -- A sports agent and a baseball trainer convicted of operating a sophisticated, sometimes violent network that smuggled Cuban players to the U.S. were sentenced to prison Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ordered a sentence of nearly four years for agent Bartolo Hernandez and just over five years for trainer Julio Estrada. Both were convicted by a jury in March of conspiracy and alien smuggling charges that included some high-profile Major League Baseball players who paid them a cut of their lucrative contracts.
During a four-hour hearing, Williams heard from numerous friends and family members of the two men about how close they remain with most of the players who made it to the U.