CHRISTIANSTED – A well-known St. Croix bartender was given 1.5 years in prison Thursday by a federal judge for bringing about 10 pounds of marijuana on a commercial flight.
Gibbs Bully, 52, of Christiansted, was sentenced in U.S. District Count on one count of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert said.
Chief U.S. District Court Judge Wilma A. Lewis gave Bully 18 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release and imposed a fine of $4,000 and a $100 special assessment, according to Shappert.
Bully was ordered to surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service on April 15 to begin serving his sentence.
Bully previously pled guilty to the charge on January 10, 2018.
According to court documents, his unnamed co-defendant traveled on an American Airlines flight from Miami, Florida, to St. Croix via the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport.
Bully solicited, aided and abetted his co-defendant in checking one box onto the flight containing five separate vacuum-sealed packages of marijuana, weighing approximately 4.5 kilograms (9.902 pounds).
Once his partner arrived in St. Croix, Bully retrieved the box containing the marijuana from the baggage carousel.
He was immediately detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers.
The case was investigated U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The marijuana was analyzed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) Southeast Crime Laboratory in Miami.
In August 2014, Bully was pulled over by Nebraska State police and allegedly had 5.4 pounds of marijuana in the 2014 Ford Escape he was driving.
He was also arrested by Kansas Troopers in March of 2014 allegedly with 50 pounds of marijuana in his possession.
On Facebook, Bully said he works for the Comanche Hotel on Strand Street in Christiansted.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Huston.
