{"id":137158,"date":"2025-09-11T22:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/137158\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T22:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:29:11","slug":"cruise-passenger-with-16k-gambling-debt-jumps-overboard-to-avoid-repayment-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/137158\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruise passenger with $16K gambling debt jumps overboard to avoid repayment – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

A passenger on a Caribbean cruise<\/a> who jumped overboard to avoid paying off US$16,000 of gambling debt they had accumulated on the ship is facing federal charges.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

According to authorities, while docked in Puerto Rico as other passengers were disembarking, Jey Gonzalez-Diaz flung himself off the Royal Caribbean\u2019s Rhapsody of the Seas in an attempt to evade repaying thousands of dollars he owed the cruise line.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe swimming pool deck of Asia\u2019s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean International\u2019s Rhapsody of the Seas, is seen in January 2008.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tK. Y. Cheng \/ Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The incident occurred at about 9:15 a.m. on Sept. 7, according to reports by CBS News<\/a> and the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Gonzalez-Diaz was rescued from the water by two passersby, who pulled him onto a jet ski, the U.S. outlets reported.<\/p>\n

He was arrested about 30 minutes later by Customs and Border Protection officers and charged with attempting to evade monetary reporting requirements.<\/p>\n

It is unclear from which of the ship\u2019s 12 decks Gonzalez-Diaz jumped.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"For<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n

A criminal complaint filed on Sunday in the U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico stated that Gonzalez-Diaz boarded the Rhapsody of the Seas in San Juan on Aug. 31.<\/p>\n

Royal Caribbean told authorities that Gonzalez-Diaz booked the trip under the name Jeremy Diaz, and that he owed the cruise $16,710.24.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

The debt was \u201calmost exclusively associated to Casino and Gaming expenses,\u201d the complaint said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t0:29
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCruise ship passengers with medical issues rescued off coast of Washington state\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\tPrevious Video<\/p>\n

\t\tNext Video<\/p>\n

\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tCharlie Kirk killing: FBI reveals 1st images of person of interest in manhunt\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t$500M bread price fixing settlement now open for Canadians to claim\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

When investigators asked Gonzalez-Diaz for his full name, he reportedly replied, \u201cIf you guys were good at your job, you would know that,\u201d the complaint states.<\/p>\n

Background checks also revealed that a man named Jeremy Omar Gonzalez-Diaz has been in federal custody in Puerto Rico since January. The accused told investigators that the man in custody was his brother.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez-Diaz faces up to $250,000 in fines and a maximum prison sentence of five years if convicted, and was released on bail. A lawyer representing him had no comment.<\/p>\n

Last month, a water slide on Royal Caribbean\u2019s<\/a> Icon of the Seas broke,<\/a> injuring a guest when an acrylic glass panel fell off<\/a> while they were going down a water slide.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

A cruise ship passenger captured the moment the panel shattered mid-ride, sending a burst of water into a public area of the ship.<\/p>\n

The guest received medical attention and was in stable condition, a Royal Caribbean Group spokesperson told CBS News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The water slide incident occurred just two weeks after a Royal Caribbean crew member jumped overboard to his death<\/a>\u00a0on the Icon of the Seas ship after allegedly stabbing a colleague, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force.<\/p>\n

\u2014 With files from Global News\u2019 Katie Scott<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on World
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A passenger on a Caribbean cruise who jumped overboard to avoid paying off US$16,000 of gambling debt they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,23585,23586,519,2845],"class_list":{"0":"post-137158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-cruise-ship","12":"tag-royal-caribbean","13":"tag-trending","14":"tag-u-s-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}