A 33-year-old man appeared in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on Monday after authorities said they arrested him during a drug bust at sea.
Investigators said Rudalph Hylton transported millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine and marijuana from Jamaica aboard a 45-foot boat.
According to a federal criminal complaint, the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Richard Etheridge conducted a routine boarding of a Sea Ray vessel named “Lady B” in the Atlantic Ocean, about eight nautical miles northeast of Haulover Inlet.
Authorities said Hylton and another man, identified as Aldon Delano Brown, were on board. Both men are Jamaican nationals.
During a seaworthiness inspection, the Coast Guard boarding team discovered altered panels and fresh fiberglass work. The complaint states they eventually uncovered “a hidden compartment under the floor inside the vessel’s cabin compartment that was well concealed with a small opening.”
Inside that compartment, authorities found 68 bricks of cocaine weighing more than 70 kilograms — about 154 pounds — along with 14 bricks of marijuana weighing roughly 12 kilograms, or about 26 pounds.
The complaint does not list a street value for the drugs. However, in 2019, federal authorities estimated that a 70-kilogram cocaine seizure in the Bronx, New York, carried a value of more than $10 million.
According to the complaint, Hylton told investigators that “he and Brown had taken the vessel to Jamaica from Fort Lauderdale” about a month earlier. He also said that while in Jamaica, “he was offered $100,000 to take the vessel back to Fort Lauderdale, knowing there (were) illegal narcotics that would be hidden on the vessel.”
Authorities charged Hylton with three federal drug trafficking offenses and booked him into the Broward County jail on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service. As of Tuesday morning, Brown did not appear in Broward or federal jail records.
Hylton remained in custody as of Tuesday and is scheduled to appear before a federal judge next Monday for a pre-trial detention hearing.