Press Release
California Passenger Sentenced to Federal Prison for Attempting to Smuggle Marijuana into St. Thomas through the Cyril E. King Airport
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Virgin Islands
St. Thomas, USVI – United States Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert for the District of the Virgin Islands announced today that Christopher Vera was sentenced to 10 months in prison and three years of supervised release for attempting to smuggle marijuana into St. Thomas.
According to public documents filed in the case, Vera was stopped on October 13, 2020 at the Cyril E. King airport after arriving on St. Thomas from Miami, FL. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers then searched his luggage and found 18 separate baggies containing in total over 8 kilograms of marijuana. Vera admitted to officers that he had been offered approximately $1,500 to transport the marijuana, which he was supposed to deliver to another individual once he arrived on St. Thomas.
This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations and CBP. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nathan Brooks
Updated February 18, 2021
Topic
Drug Trafficking
Component