{"id":108839,"date":"2026-01-07T10:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T10:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/108839\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T10:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T10:06:07","slug":"florida-boater-carlos-guillermo-alonso-accused-of-killing-teen-ballerina-ella-adler-in-hit-and-run-crash-sentenced-to-6-months-probation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/108839\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida boater Carlos Guillermo Alonso accused of killing teen ballerina Ella Adler in hit and run crash sentenced to 6 months probation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Florida boater accused of killing a teenage ballerina while she was wakeboarding<\/a> in Miami during a friend\u2019s birthday avoided prison after securing a slap-on-the-wrist plea deal.<\/p>\n

Carlos Guillermo \u201cBill\u201d Alonso, 79, was handed six months of probation and ordered to take a boater-safety course on Monday in Miami-Dade County court for the 2024 hit-and-run death of 15-year-old Ella Adler, the Key Biscayne Independent reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Alonso reached a plea deal with prosecutors after he was charged with two misdemeanor counts of careless vessel operation for piloting his 42-foot yacht through a crowded Key Biscayne<\/a> waterway and striking and killing the teen.<\/p>\n

Carlos Guillermo \u201cBill\u201d Alonso, 79, was sentenced to six months\u2019 probation and a boater-safety course Monday in Miami-Dade County court for the 2024 hit-and-run death of 15-year-old Ella Adler. WSVN<\/p>\n

The plea deal allows Alonso to avoid a formal conviction, sparing him a possible 60-day county jail sentence.<\/p>\n

However, the deal clears the charges entirely if Alonso completes probation without violations, his attorney, Lauren Field Krasnoff, said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hearts go out to the Adler family. This was a tragic accident, and of course, Bill never intended to hurt anyone that day,\u201d Field Krasnoff said.<\/p>\n

She said Alonso\u2019s decision to accept the plea deal was driven by his hope that doing so would cause less pain to Ella\u2019s family and help shine a light on the Ella Riley Adler Foundation<\/a><\/p>\n

Alonso was ordered to complete a 75-hour boating safety course, donate $5,000 to the Florida Crime Victims Compensation Fund in Adler\u2019s memory, and pay a $500 state fine and court costs, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n

Adler was wakeboarding with friends to celebrate her birthday in Key Biscayne when she fell into the water. Courtesy Levitt-Weinstein Blasberg-Rubin-Zilbert Memorial Chapel<\/p>\n

He is also prohibited from operating a vessel during his probation period.<\/p>\n

Adler \u2014 the granddaughter of former US ambassador to Belgium Michael Adler \u2014 was wakeboarding with friends to celebrate her birthday in Key Biscayne when she fell into the water.<\/p>\n

Witnesses said the 15-year-old was treading water when she was struck and killed.<\/p>\n

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission initially treated the case as a hit-and-run after investigators were unable to locate Alonso\u2019s vessel until days later, when it was found docked behind his home in a gated Coral Gables community.<\/p>\n

Alonso reached a plea deal with prosecutors after he was charged with two misdemeanor counts of careless vessel operation for piloting his 42-foot yacht through a crowded Key Biscayne waterway and striking and killing the teen. CBS News<\/p>\n

However, security-camera footage released by Alonso\u2019s attorneys<\/a> showed him heading out on his boat earlier that day and calmly returning later that afternoon.<\/p>\n

His attorneys said his calm return proved he did not realize he had struck someone on the water.<\/p>\n

Adler was a star at Ransom Everglades High School, excelling on the debate and dance teams and performing in \u201cChicago\u201d just weeks before her death.<\/p>\n

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A gifted, classically trained dancer, she appeared more than 100 times with the Miami City Ballet.<\/p>\n

The teen\u2019s father, Matthew Adler, said in court Monday that his daughter \u201cmade everything more joyful, more beautiful and more connected,\u201d according to the Key Biscayne Independent.<\/p>\n

\u201cElla was extraordinary. She radiated joy, kindness and creativity in every room she entered,\u201d he said. \u201cShe didn\u2019t just live. She danced through life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adler, a talented ballet dancer, is the granddaughter of former US ambassador to Belgium Michael Adler. Family Handout<\/p>\n

Adler also called for stricter regulations on Florida waterways, noting that far fewer rules govern boat operators than drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many children are dying on our waterways,\u201d he said. \u201cImagine if someone proposed eliminating driver\u2019s license insurance or accountability on the roads.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also charged was Edmund Richard Hartley, the captain of the yacht towing Adler and another girl, who was not injured.<\/p>\n

Hartley has pleaded not guilty to four counts of careless boating, violations of navigation rules relating to lookout, responsibility for collision, and action to avoid collision, the Key Biscayne Independent reported.<\/p>\n

He faces up to 60 days in jail if convicted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Florida boater accused of killing a teenage ballerina while she was wakeboarding in Miami during a friend\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9271,28,30,29,123,55701,32376,4278],"class_list":["post-108839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-boat-crashes","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-miami","tag-plea-deals","tag-tragedy","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}