One man decided to jump off his cruise ship in a vain effort to avoid his high casino bill.
Not only did he not evade his bill, now he's in trouble with the authorities.
While sailing on Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas near the Port of San Juan last weekend, a man jumped off the side of the ship. Reports say he did so to avoid his $16,000 gambling debt.
Jey Gonzalez-Diaz boarded Rhapsody for the August 31st sailing for a 7 Night Southern Caribbean that began and ended in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
According to the criminal complaint obtained by CBS News, and file in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, the ship returned back to San Juan when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection claims he jumped into the water as the ship disembarked around 9:15 a.m. local time.
According to investigators, he was rescued by a person that happened to be passing by on a jet ski. The rescue was recorded on surveillance video.
Authorities charged him with a federal crime.
Mr. Gonzalez-Diaz was tracked down later near the Puerto Rico Capitol Building by CBP agents, who found him carrying $14,600 in cash, two phones and five IDs.
According to the criminal complaint, Mr. Gonzalez-Diaz is accused of attempting to avoid monetary reporting requirements when traveling into the United States.
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."
During the course of the investigation, Royal Caribbean said Gonzalez-Diaz had booked the cruise under the name "Jeremy Diaz". Plus, he racked up a $16,710.24 bill while on the ship that 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.
When they asked him for his full name, he told investigators, "If you guys were good at your job, you would know that," the complaint said.
If convicted, Mr. Gonzalez-Diaz could face a fine up to $250,000 or a maximum five-year prison sentence, or both.
He has been released on bail.
