(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Two Mexican nationals were arrested on Friday after sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship en route to Miami. One of the men is HIV-positive.
The defendants—Ricardo Daniel Mondragon Leal, 37, and Jose Juan Prudencio Diaz, 36—have been charged with lewd and lascivious exhibition on a child and lewd and lascivious molestation of a child.
Prudencio Diaz was hit with an additional charge of allegedly failing to disclose his HIV status to the underage victim, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office revealed.
Both men allegedly subjected the 14-year-old boy to their abuse on Thursday inside the cruise ship’s sauna.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said that Prudencio Diaz exposed his genitals and began pleasuring himself in front of the child, ultimately forcing the child to touch him.
Mondragon Leal allegedly masturbated in front of the child as well and forced him to perform oral sex. He did the same to the child, according to law enforcement.
According to Local 10 News, Prudencio Diaz is being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, while Mondragon Leal is detained at the Metrowest Detention Center.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem reacted to the disturbing news in a statement on X. “Both have ICE detainers on them. We WILL get these sickos out of our country,” she wrote Tuesday.
One of them has HIV. Both have ICE detainers on them. We WILL get these sickos out of our country. https://t.co/LjMLJumBz7
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) March 25, 2025
The ICE detainers were likely issued after the charges were announced. Both men are Mexican nationals and are believed to have boarded the cruise on tourist visas.
According to Fox News, the defendants were reportedly detained without incident. It is unclear whether they are in a romantic relationship, but both share an address in Mexico City, Local 10 News reported.
