A newlywed couple quit their jobs and stole a sailboat to go on an illicit honeymoon in Cuba.
Aaron Burmeister, 46, and Ashley McNeil, 32, admitted to flying the 40-foot catamaran in a port in the Lower Keys of Florida.
Both have pleaded guilty to stealing the sailboat and now face up to five years in prison, according to the Sun Herald.
The couple took the boat on March 30, named the Kaisosi, to leave the country for a vacation after the wedding.
Two days later, they were arrested in the Cuban resort town of Varadero, on the country’s north coast.
The couple were arrested by local authorities and spent six months in prison.
They were returned to the United States in September to be arrested at Miami International Airport by federal agents.
Burmeister told police they believed the boat was abandoned when they discovered it at Little Torch Key in Newfound Harbor.
They had already started their journey before realizing it belonged to someone – a man named Hector Cisneros.
Cisneros said he bought the Kaisosi last year for $ 350,000.
Burmeister and McNeil have both been charged with two counts of conspiracy to transport a ship in foreign trade.
The judge dropped the second charge against the couple in exchange for their guilty pleas.
The couple will appear in Key West U.S. District Court on January 7 for sentencing.
