CHARLOTTE AMALIE — An air traveler found who flew into the St. Thomas airport with a handgun and magazine in his son’s checked luggage seven months ago was given 1.5 years of probation today in U.S. District Court.
Wayne Smith was sentenced to 18 months probation on his conviction for causing a firearm to be present in a federal facility, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert said.
U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Ruth Miller also ordered Smith to pay a $5,000 fine.
Smith previously plead guilty to that charge on June 24. In his plea agreement, he admitted that on March 21 at the Cyril E. King airport he was a ticketed passenger on a JetBlue Airways flight and checked luggage in his son’s name that contained a Ruger LCP pistol and an ammunition magazine.
Although he was aware that the luggage contained the firearm and ammunition magazine, he did not notify JetBlue Airways or the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that the luggage contained a firearm.
The TSA discovered the firearm at the federal security checkpoint in the airport.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam Sleeper.