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Press Release

Puerto Rico Woman Sentenced for Attempting to Smuggle Marijuana through the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Virgin Islands

St. Croix, USVI – Nathalie Lopez, 32, of Puerto Rico, was sentenced in District Court on one count of Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute on Board an Aircraft, United States Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert announced.

Judge Wilma A. Lewis sentenced Lopez to two and a half years of federal probation with a required 100 hours of community service and imposed a fine of $2,000 and a special assessment of $100.

According to court documents, on February 17, 2017, Nathalie Lopez traveled on American Airlines flight #1293 from Miami, Florida, to St. Croix, via the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport. Lopez checked one box on this flight containing five separate vacuum-sealed packages of marijuana, weighing approximately 4.5 kilograms. Once Lopez arrived in St. Croix, her co-conspirator, Gibbs Bully, retrieved the box containing the marijuana from the baggage carousel, and was immediately detained by Customs and Border Protection officers.

Gibbs Bully previously pled guilty to the charge of Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute, and on March 14, 2019, was sentenced to a prison term of 18 months, to be followed by a four-year period of supervised release, and a fine of $4,000.

The Virgin Islands Port Authority, Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. The DEA Southeast Crime Laboratory in Miami analyzed the marijuana. Assistant United States Attorney Daniel H. Huston prosecuted the case.

Updated November 2, 2021

Topic
Drug Trafficking