A federal judge sentenced a San Diego man to 18 years in prison Friday for piloting a small vessel overloaded with 32 migrants that smashed apart in powerful surf off San Diego’s coast last year, killing three people.

U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino called it “the most egregious case I’ve ever had in my courtroom in over 15 years in the Southern District of California” before sentencing 40-year-old Antonio Hurtado.

Prosecutors say Hurtado was high on drugs when he drove the migrants into rough, stormy seas in the dark on May 2021. As 5-to-8-foot (1.5-2.4-meter) waves pounded the vessel, he jumped overboard and swam to shore, abandoning the passengers he had told to hide in the cabin and under deck. The boat capsized and broke apart as they were hurled into the treacherous early morning waters. Hurtado’s lawyer could not be reached for comment.

More than two dozen people were injured, including a 15-year-old Mexican boy and a 15-year-old Mexican girl. The 32 migrants — all but one from Mexico — had agreed to pay between $15,000 and $18,000 to be smuggled into the United States.