CHRISTIANSTED — A Georgia man with ties to St. Croix got one month in prison for every pound of marijuana he brought to the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport last year.
U.S. District Court Judge Wilma A. Lewis today sentenced Ra’Kheel Velasquez to four months in prison for possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert said.
In addition to four months incarceration, Velasquez must also serve three years of supervised released, pay a $1,000 fine and $100 special assessment fee.
According to court documents, Velasquez, 24, traveled to St. Croix on March 10, 2021 on a Delta flight originating from Atlanta, Georgia.
Velasquez carried luggage containing approximately 1.76 kilograms (approximately four pounds) of marijuana in four individually wrapped packages intended for distribution.
U.S. Customs Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Ortiz is prosecuted the case.
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.