MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Former Major League Soccer player Diego Serna, who starred for the now-defunct Miami Fusion, is facing federal drug trafficking charges after authorities said he tried to bring nearly 9,000 hydrocodone pills into the U.S. after arriving at Miami International Airport on a flight from Colombia, Local 10 News has learned.
Authorities said Serna, 52, arrived on an American Airlines flight from his hometown of Medellin, Colombia on Wednesday with “two black backpacks and no checked luggage.”
But, according to a federal criminal complaint, before he arrived in the U.S., Colombian authorities issued a “lookout alert” that Serna, whose full name is Diego Alonso Serna Lopera, was suspected of travelling with drugs.
According to the complaint, customs officers referred Serna to secondary inspection and he took responsibility for what was in the bags: “seven assorted vitamin bottles containing approximately 8,975 pills.”
The pills were identified as being suspected hydrocodone/acetaminophen, once sold under the brand name Vicodin, the complaint states. Authorities said they tested positive for opiates.
According to federal agents, during an interview, Serna “immediately stated that he wanted to cooperate.”
The complaint states that Serna acknowledged that customs officers “had inspected the pill bottles before departure and that he had overheard them say that the bottles contained ‘hydrocodone’” and “explained that the pills were delivered to his apartment in Colombia by a friend named ‘Sebastian,’ whose last name he claimed not to know,” but who “paid for his flight as a ‘thank you’ for helping (him) transport the pills.”
“(Serna) was told that, once he landed in Miami, he would receive a call from Sebastian regarding the delivery of the pills,” the complaint states.
Authorities said Serna cooperated in a “controlled delivery” of the pills.
“Under the direction of law enforcement, (Serna) notified Sebastian via WhatsApp that he had arrived in Miami,” the complaint states. “Law enforcement observed the exchange. (Serna) was instructed to deliver the pills to an individual who would meet him at the Miami International Airport, Departure Door 10.”
Soon after, authorities said a woman showed up in a vehicle to get the pills. According to the complaint, Serna gave her a backpack and showed her the pill bottles, closed it and handed it over to her.
“After she picked up the pills, law enforcement detained the woman and seized the narcotics,” the complaint states. “During the detention, law enforcement observed that the woman’s cellphone was receiving numerous calls from a contact saved as ‘Sebastian hijo.’”
The complaint does not identify the woman or whether she is facing charges.
Serna was arrested on charges of importation of hydrocodone and conspiracy to import hydrocodone into the United States.
Records show he appeared in Miami federal court on Thursday and was released on a $100,000 surety bond. He was ordered to surrender his passport and his travel is restricted to the Southern District of Florida. He’s also prohibited from visiting transportation establishments.
Serna played for the Fusion from 1998 to 2001 and was the team’s all time leading scorer before it folded a year after his departure. He was named to the MLS Best XI, an annual honor for the league’s best 11 players, in 2001.
In 2014, he played for Miami Dade FC of the United Premier Soccer League, his last time on the pitch professionally.
Records show he’s scheduled to be back in Miami federal court for an arraignment hearing on Aug. 20.
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