FREDERIKSTED — A St. Croix woman told police her ex-boyfriend used a knife to hold her prisoner in his apartment — despite desperate pleas to him over the course of “several hours” to let her go.
Kareem Edwards, 39, of Cane Carlton, was arrested Saturday and charged with false imprisonment and kidnapping-domestic violence, brandishing, exhibiting, or using a deadly weapon, carrying or using dangerous weapons during the commission of a crime, third-degree assault, disturbance of the peace and unlawful entry-domestic violence, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.
Edwards was not offered bail as per the territory’s domestic violence statutes. He was scheduled for an advice-of-rights hearing today at 9 a.m. in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands.
The 911 Emergency dispatcher sent officers to Genip Gardens Apartments on Prince Street in Frederiksted at 9:45 a.m. Saturday based on a woman’s report that her ex-boyfriend Kareem Edwards entered her apartment without permission and then brandished a knife, Superior Court records indicate.
Police went to Genip Gardens and interviewed the victim who told them that Kareem Edwards would not allow her to leave his apartment “for at least several hours” on Friday night, the VIPD’s probable cause fact sheet states.
The woman said she told Edwards numerous times to drop her home, and that she wanted to leave, and that he told her “to sit her ass down and shut the fuck up because she is not going anywhere,” the sworn police affidavit says.
“(Victim’s initials redacted) stated that she was scared so she told Mr. Edwards that she wasn’t feeling well, and she needed to take her medication which was at her home,” the probable cause fact sheet states.
Despite her pleas to release her immediately, the victim told police that Edwards didn’t drive her home until the following morning. The ex-boyfriend returned to her apartment a short time later, but the victim refused to allow him into her residence, “so she assumed that he left,” Superior Court records indicate.
Then a different male friend came to her Genip Gardens apartment to bring her breakfast, but forgot to lock the door behind him after he left. The victim said that she was laying down when all of a sudden she noticed that Edwards — her ex-boyfriend — was now in her apartment. She asked him how he got in, but he ignored the question.
At that time, Edwards pulled out a black pocketknife and she told the victim to go to her room. He immediately left her apartment with the black pocketknife and chased after the man who brought her breakfast earlier that morning, according to the probable cause fact sheet. The woman said she exited her room and apartment to put herself in between the two arguing men — and make sure Edwards did not injure the other man.
Edwards then followed the walking couple in a green Toyota Yaris, police said. The woman said she was afraid the suspect would injure her male friend, so she called 911.
“(The male claimant) stated that while he was bringing in some items into (his girlfriend’s) apartment Kareem Edwards rushed in behind him,” the probable cause fact sheet states.
The male friend told police he noticed that Edwards held a black pocketknife in his hand as he entered the Genip Gardens apartment. As the male friend was leaving, he told Edwards not to come back to the woman’s apartment.
“(The male friend) stated that when he came out of the apartment, the suspect rushed after him
with a black pocketknife and (the other man) had to hold back Edwards,” the probable cause fact sheet states.
The male friend then started to walk towards Yam Yam restaurant on King Street and while he was walking there he noticed that Edwards was following close behind him in a small green Toyota, so he ran to get away from him, according to police. Edwards then drove his vehicle even closer to the male friend and warned him if he goes back to the Genip Gardens apartment “he’ll see what’s going to happen to him.”
When police wen to Edwards’ Cane Carlton home to get a statement, they noticed he drives a green 2011 Toyota Yaris and noted its license plate number. Efforts to call Edwards by cell phone and by activating the squad car’s air horn in front of his home, did not persuade him to come outside and speak with police, so the officers left and issued an All Points Bulletin (APB) for him and his vehicle.
The victim then called police at 12:19 p.m. Saturday and reported that Edwards was again in front of her apartment, according to the probable cause fact sheet. When police were traveling east to west on the Melvin Evans Highway they noticed Edwards in a green Toyota Yaris driving west to east on the same highway.
After activating their flashing lights, police intersected with Edwards near the Williams Delight traffic light. Officers asked him to turn off his vehicle and step out of it — and he did so. Police then told him that he and his vehicle met the description of a suspect wanted for false imprisonment in Frederiksted, and then advised him of his Miranda Rights under the law.
After he was advised of his right to remain silent, Edwards was asked by police: where is your black pocketknife? The suspect replied: “It is under the driver’s seat of my vehicle,” according to the probable cause fact sheet.
With permission, police then searched the green 2011 Toyota Yaris and found a “black gravity knife which was located on the floor of the front passenger side of Mr. Edwards vehicle.”
Edwards was placed under arrest at that point and taken to the Juan F. Luis Hospital for a COVID-19 test. He was then taken to the Wilbur H. Francis Command Police Station where he was again advised of his rights. The suspect declined to make any further statements at that time. He was booked and processed by a VIPD forensics technician.
A police investigation found that Edwards has a prior criminal record on file. The suspect was charged with “depositing fraudulent checks” in excess of $5,000 on April 19, 2021, according to police records.
Edwards was charged with a crime two years in a row around this date. His vehicle was towed from Williams Delight by Jay’s Empire.
All individuals listed as arrested or charged with a crime in this report are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.