CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Two Puerto Rican men aboard a no-lights boat who tried to ditch 174 pounds of cocaine during a sea chase between Culebra and St. Thomas were arrested Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert said.
According to court documents, on March 29, 2022, Wesly Albert Amaro, and Brian Santiago
Gonzalez, were stopped in the waters near Savanah Island, just west of St. Thomas. At about 4:00 a.m., the United States Coast Guard (USCG) detected a vessel operating without navigation lights traveling at a high rate of speed from Culebra, Puerto Rico towards Hendrik Bay in St. Thomas.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine (AMO) vessels responded as the USCG provided updates of the vessel’s location. AMO agents located the lights-out vessel sing radar and attempted a stop. The vessel fled while the two men onboard jettisoned bags overboard.
The vessel would not heave to, so AMO agents disabled the vessel’s engine. During the chase, AMO agents marked when and where bags were discarded from the vessel. Upon returning to the marked areas, AMO agents recovered three duffel bags containing 79 kilograms of suspected cocaine.
Each man is charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance pursuant to
21 U.S.C §§ 841(b)(1)(B). If convicted, each man faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a
maximum of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after
considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
CBP-AMO, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Homeland Security Investigations
(HSI) are investigating the case. The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of the Virgin
Islands is prosecuting the case.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until
proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation.
OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten
the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional
information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.