Federal prosecutors said Friday a Florida woman pleaded guilty to a smuggling conspiracy that ended in disaster when a fishing vessel carrying 18 Cuban migrants sank, killing 16 of those on board.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said Yaquelin Dominguez-Nieves, 26, of Sebring, was convicted last week in the 2022 scheme in which many of the deceased victims were children.

According to court documents, Dominguez-Nieves took at least $11,500 from the Cuban migrants and sent it to her boyfriend in Cuba, who arranged for the trip to South Florida.

The filing said a small fishing boat sank 30 miles after it left Playa Jaimanitas, Cuba, in November 2022.

“Many of the 16 victims were young children and teenagers, including children ranging from nine months to seven years old, as well as two 16-year-olds,” federal prosecutors said in a statement. “Four of the migrants’ bodies were recovered at sea, and their cause of death was ruled drowning.”

There were no life jackets on the boat, and two survivors told authorities that the captain didn’t appear to know what he was doing, according to the court documents.

Dominguez-Nieves is scheduled for sentencing in April. She faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison with a possible sentence of up to life behind bars, though the plea agreement says prosecutors will ask for a reduced sentence because of her cooperation.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.