CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A former supermarket cashier who brought 167 pounds of marijuana to the airport in seven suitcases pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges today, authorities said.
Idesha Patricia Sterrod pled in U.S. District Court in St. Thomas to possession with intent to distribute marijuana, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert said.
According to court documents, on August 5, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Cyril E. King Airport were conducting inspections of incoming luggage and discovered a suitcase with packages containing a green leafy substance inside.
The suitcase arrived on an American Airlines flight from Miami. The suitcase was placed back on the luggage belt and officers allowed it to be retrieved in the baggage section of the airport. Sterrod, along with three unrelated minor
children traveling with her, retrieved a total of seven suitcases, including the one inspected.
Officers inspected all seven suitcases with which the defendant was traveling. All contained vacuum sealed bags of a green leafy substance, which tested positive for the characteristics of marijuana and had a total weight of 76 kilograms.
Sterrod will be sentenced at a later date by Chief Judge Robert A. Molloy and faces a maximum term of not more than 20 years imprisonment, three years of supervised release and a maximum $250,000.00 fine.
The Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Inspection, investigated the case