Going from an office as an agent to potential MLB prospects to the confines of a six-by-eight foot jail cell made up of steel bars and brick walls, the view can be a little different.
The view changed for sports agent Gustavo “Gus” Dominguez, co-founder of Total Sports International Inc., as he was sentenced to five years in prison for illegally smuggling Cuban players into the United States. Along with the five years in jail, Dominguez was sentenced to three years probation and a $2,100 fine.
Sentenced on July 9, 2007, Dominguez was found guilty on 21 felony counts of smuggling, conspiracy and harboring and transporting aliens for profit, according to the LA Times. During the trial, prosecutors said Dominguez traveled to Cuba by boat twice, the second being on Aug. 22, 2004, successfully bringing 19 Cubans into the country.
Dominguez was charged with paying four aides to transport the athletes and other Cubans to America. According to USA Today, Dominguez and his associates rented apartments and provided food for the Cuban players, making it possible to begin training.
Charged in the federal indictment were Geoffrey Rodrigues, Robert Yosvany Hernandez, Ramon Batista and Guillermo Valdez. Jurors acquitted co-defendant Hernandez of six counts of conspiracy and alien smuggling while two other original co-defendants of Dominguez reached plea agreements before the trial, according to ESPN.
Upon his early release from prison in January 2011, Dominguez’s conviction on charges of transporting and harboring aliens was reversed, despite already being a free man, according to ESPN.
Continuing to work with baseball prospects after his release, Dominguez was linked to players taken in the 2011 MLB draft, Yordanys Perez and Alfredo Unzue, according to Baseball America.
Dominguez is most familiar with baseball, previously playing at Valley College and Cal State Northridge. Since he lives in the San Fernando Valley, Dominguez said many players he has helped chose to work out at Pierce.
“My friendship with Bob Lofrano goes way back, 20 years ago. We were working out there trying to get authority from Bob and he was really kind to let us do it,” Dominguez said. “We let the guys start working out there and get in shape for the try outs and stuff like that. Over the years it’s become a home away from home for our guys and that’s where they get ready to go.”
Today, Dominguez has continued his passion of being a baseball agent, using Pierce College as a facility to help his clients for the past 20 years. Dominguez is currently working with Joan Socarras, a left-handed pitcher and client of Dominguez’s for about a year and a half.
Translated by Dominguez, Socarras said that it is important he get his work in while he is on the Pierce campus, currently rehabbing a muscle in his shoulder.
“It’s a place to work out and do the basics,” Socarras said. “I enjoy my time there.”
Recognizing that Dominguez spends a fair amount of time on campus, Athletic Director Bob Lofrano says that Dominguez is not in any way a faculty member at Pierce.
“He does really nothing here,” Lofrano said. “He is not affiliated with the college at all. Make that point clear, there is no affiliation with the college.”
