CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A New York man who claimed a stranger offered him $15,000 to take 11 pounds of marijuana from Washington D.C. to St. Thomas has pleaded guilty to drug smuggling.
Christopher Lloyd Turnbull, of New York City, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today to possession with intent to distribute marijuana, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert said.
According to court documents, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers were conducting screenings of arriving passengers at the Cyril E. King Airport on November 11, 2020, when Turnbull disembarked an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, North Carolina.
He was selected for inspection. Upon searching a black carry-on suitcase in Turnbull’s possession, officers discovered approximately eight different sealed packages containing a green leafy substance that tested positive for the presence of marijuana. The packages weighed approximately five kilograms. A laboratory exam confirmed the presence of approximately 3.8 kilograms of marijuana.
Turnbull, who originally departed from the Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., claimed that while he was waiting at the gate for his connecting flight in Charlotte, N.C, an unknown man approached him and offered him $15,000 to transport the black carry-on suitcase to St. Thomas.
Turnbull is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal district court judge on June 23, 2022.
The Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations and CBP investigated the case. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kyle Payne.
The case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (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, multiagency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.