CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A St. Croix man who tried to move nearly 50 pounds of cocaine from St. Thomas to Atlanta was sentenced to six years in prison by a federal judge on Thursday.
U,S, District Court Judge Wilma Lewis, sentenced Jakwaan Sweeny, Jr., 22, of St. Croix, to 72 months incarceration for trafficking cocaine, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert said.
According to court records, on September 24, 2018, Sweeney provided his co-conspirator with a travel bag containing 22.78 kilos of cocaine and an airline ticket to Atlanta. On the day of travel, Sweeney’s co-conspirator entered the Cyril E. King Airport and checked the bag for the flight.
During a routine screening, U.S.Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers discovered the cocaine located in the luggage. Sweeney’s co-conspirator entered a guilty plea to the federal cocaine conspiracy charge in 2018.
In addition to 72 months incarceration, Judge Lewis also sentenced Sweeney to five years supervised release, imposed a $1,500 fine, and ordered him to pay a $100 special assessment.
This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations and CBP.
It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Everard E. Potter.
The case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation.
OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.