A North Huntingdon businessman’s scheme to smuggle Hondurans and cocaine into the country came undone when the U.S. Coast Guard found his yacht floundering in the Gulf of Mexico, the Justice Department said in court documents.
Carl “Car” Allison, 47, pleaded guilty in federal court in New Orleans this month to conspiracy to unlawfully bring people into the U.S. for financial gain and conspiracy to distribute at least 5 kilograms of cocaine, the Justice Department said. He was indicted with at least seven other suspects.
Allison’s company, Dynamic Capacity Group, supplied Latin American workers for factories and businesses, while knowing the migrants did not have the proper documents to work in the U.S., prosecutors said in a plea document.
The conspiracy unraveled when the yacht co-owned by Allison — with 23 migrants and 24 kilograms of cocaine aboard — developed engine trouble Feb. 12, 2022, and was stuck some 90 miles off the coast of Grand Isle, La.
Before a charter boat Allison hired to refuel his disabled yacht could arrive, the Coast Guard found the powerless vessel being battered by the seas, with seasick passengers aboard. After towing the boat to shore, authorities found the cocaine hidden inside, according to court documents.
The conspirators made numerous voyages — usually carrying 15 immigrants — in Allison’s 65-foot yacht from January 2021 to February 2022. The illegal immigrants were charged $20,000 for the trip to the U.S. — a fee typically paid by family members here, the Justice Department said.
Court documents do not reveal whether Allison’s business placed the illegal immigrants in Western Pennsylvania businesses. Allison was in Honduras prior to the unsuccessful smuggling operation in February 2022 but was not on the boat when it was taken by the Coast Guard, court papers said.
Three of Allison’s co-conspirators, all Honduran nationals, pleaded guilty this year for their roles in the scheme to bring illegal immigrants into the country for financial gain.
Allison, who is scheduled to be sentenced March 28, faces a possible maximum life sentence in prison and a $10.2 million fine, according to court documents.
The Pennsylvania Department of State lists Dynamic Capacity’s address as the same address the Westmoreland County Recorder of Deeds has for a North Huntingdon residence owned by Allison. Stephen S. Stallings, a Pittsburgh attorney representing Allison, could not be reached for comment.
The North Huntingdon police and the Pennsylvania State Police were involved in the investigation, as well as Homeland Security units from Pittsburgh, Louisiana and Atlanta, the Justice Department said.
North Huntingdon police Chief Robert Rizzo could not be reached for comment.
