Florida fugitive is caught in Cuba and sent to jail in Miami-Dade, MDSO says
A Fort Myers man on the state sex-offender registry was detained by Cuban authorities when his boat ran out of fuel and it was discovered he had an outstanding warrant in Florida, the sheriff of Lee County, where he’s wanted, said.
He was brought to Miami-Dade County by federal agents Monday.
Worden Bourn had been on the run since February, when he failed to report for a court date on a charge that he plied a 17-year-old boy with booze and marijuana aboard his sailboat in Fort Myers Beach in December, according to court records.
In that case, the boy was reported missing by his father on Dec. 21 after he did not return from paddleboarding after sunset like he said he would, according to Bourn’s Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
A sheriff’s office helicopter crew spotted the boy’s paddleboard tethered to a catamaran sailboat belonging to Bourn, who is 64, the report states.
Deputies found the boy inside the boat and noticed he was intoxicated and smelled of alcohol, according to the report. Paramedics took him to Galisono Children’s Hospital, where medical staff found his blood alcohol level was almost three times the legal limit for operating a vehicle, according to the report.
Tests also showed he had marijuana in his system, investigators say.
The boy told deputies that he and Bourn began talking as he paddled past his boat. Bourn invited him on the vessel, where he served the teen alcoholic beverages and gave him marijuana to smoke, according to the report. The boy told cops that he told Bourn he was 17, the report states, and he also said Bourn told him not to tell his parents about their encounter.
When cops talked to Bourn, he told them he thought the teen was in his 20s or 30s, according to the report. He said they drank and smoked marijuana, and he thought the teen was having a seizure at one point, but he regained consciousness, the report states.
Deputies initially arrested Bourn on misdemeanor marijuana possession, but then prosecutors charged him on Jan. 21 with felony distributing or selling a controlled substance to a minor., according to court records. A warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to show up for a Feb. 16 court hearing, records show.
Lee County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Warrant Unit detectives then found out that he bought a new boat and planned to travel to Costa Rica, the agency said in a statement Tuesday.
Cuban law enforcement encountered Bourn drifting in his boat at sea on Feb. 26. He told authorities his boat ran out of fuel and he needed assistance to continue his trip, the sheriff’s office said. The Cubans detained him upon discovering his warrant, according to the sheriff’s office.
U.S. Marshals picked him up from Cuba on Monday, and as of Tuesday, he was being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on the Lee County warrant awaiting extradition, according to the sheriff’s office and Miami-Dade County jail records.
Bourn is on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s sex-offender registry because of a 2004 conviction on kidnapping and sexual abuse of a minor in Anchorage, Alaska, records show. He was also arrested in the Florida Keys in March 2022 on a charge of failing to register as a sex offender.
Monroe County court records show he pleaded no contest in July 2022 and was sentenced to time served. Information about his legal representation was not immediately available.
