A Florida real estate developer has been charged with murder stemming from a 2022 boating accident that killed a 17-year-old girl and left another disabled.
Miami-Dade prosecutors now believe George Pino, 53, committed “ship murder,” a crime that could land him in prison for up to 15 years if convicted.
On September 4, 2022, Pino was piloting a 29-foot Robalo boat with 13 others on board, including his daughter Cecilia Lianne Pino, who was celebrating her birthday.
The majority of the passengers were Cecilia’s teenage friends.
According to prosecutors and officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Pino eventually hit a channel marker in the Upper Keys near Boca Chita Key, causing the boat to flip upside down and throwing everyone overboard.
Nearly everyone was injured, but 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez died and Katerina Puig, who was 18 at the time, was left with debilitating and permanent injuries that prevented her from living an independent life.
George Pino, 53, has been charged with manslaughter in connection with the September 4, 2022 boat crash
The ship capsized and all fourteen people on board ended up in the water
Pino was initially charged with three felonies of careless boating, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
The murder charge he now faces comes after Kathya and Rodolfo Puig, Katerina Puig’s parents, filed a lawsuit against Pino and his wife Cecilia.
The Puigs sued them for negligence, claiming Pino was drinking before the crash and had provided alcohol to the teenagers on board.
Cecilia, 49, was ordered in May by Circuit Court Judge Migna Sanchez-Llorens to pay the Puigs $16 million with interest at 0.934 percent.
According to an FWC incident report, authorities found 61 empty alcohol bottles and cans, an empty champagne bottle and a half-empty liquor bottle on the boat, NBC 6 reported.
Despite this, no one admitted to consuming the alcohol and Pino refused to take a breath test because there was no lawyer present.
Lucy Fernandez, left, died in the crash, while Katerina Puig survived but was left with severe lifelong disabilities
Katerina (photo in wheelchair), now 19, will probably never have the opportunity to live independently
A final FWC report released about a year after the crash concluded that Pino showed no signs of impairment, but that he “operated his vessel in a careless manner by violating four rules of navigation.”
For example, he was operating the boat at a speed of 45 to 47 miles per hour, which the FWC said was a factor in the crash.
An attorney representing the Fernandez family told NBC 6 that prosecutors revisited the case when a Miami-Dade firefighter who responded to the crash came forward.
The firefighter told prosecutors that alcohol was a factor in the crash, which contradicts the FWC report, Fernandez’s attorney said.
The Fernandez family thanked Miami-Dade State’s Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in a statement Thursday, praising her and her team for their “perseverance and dedication.”
Pino piloted this 29-foot Robalo boat. The right side of the ship was torn open during the crash
Howard Srebnick, the Pinos’ attorney, said the new charges surprised him.
“I am appalled by the state’s surprising decision to file this new charge, more than two years later,” Srebnick said in a statement.
‘Officers on scene determined that Pino was not intoxicated; Pino did not exceed the posted speed limit, Pino had the required number of Coast Guard-approved life preservers on board the ship, and despite suffering head injuries himself (requiring fifteen stitches), Pino made heroic efforts to save the injured passengers, including diving under the capsized boat. This was an accident, not a crime, let alone a misdemeanor,” the statement continued.
The Puig family also responded to the new charges against Pino.
“The Puig family is grateful for the state’s continued efforts to prosecute Mr. Pino for his reckless operation of his vessel while transporting twelve teenage girls and resulting in the death of Lucy Fernandez,” their statement said.