Man Pleads Guilty to Reentry by an Alien After Removal and Illegal Alien in Possession of a Firearm

St. Croix, USVI – James Charlery, 53, currently of St. Croix, was sentenced on March 28, 2018, in District Count on the counts of Reentry by an Alien After Removal and Illegal Alien in Possession of a Firearm, United States Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert announced.

Chief Judge Wilma A. Lewis sentenced Charlery to fifteen (15) months in prison, followed by one (1) year of supervised release, and ordered Charlery to pay a fine of $500 and a special assessment of $200. Upon the completion of his sentence, Charlery faces deportation, as an immigration detainer has been placed on him by the Department of Homeland Security.

Charlery entered a guilty plea to these charges on December 29, 2017 and admitted that he was an illegal alien who had unlawfully reentered the Territory of the Virgin Islands after his deportation in 1995 to St. Lucia. He also acknowledged that on May 25, 2017, he illegally possessed a loaded firearm, a Smith and Wesson .38 caliber revolver, at the Frontline Bar and Restaurant in Frederiksted.

The case was investigated by the Virgin Islands Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel H. Huston.