KINGSHILL — A former security guard was re-arrested for failing to register as a sex offender on St. Croix, authorities said.
Antonio Sanes-Carmona, 51, a registered sex offender, was arrested by the Virgin Islands Department of Justice (VIDOJ) Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) Unit on January 11, Acting Virgin Islands Attorney General Carol Thomas-Jacobs said.
Sanes-Carmona, a St. Croix resident, was arrested for failure to comply with the sex offender registry, according to AG Thomas-Jacobs.
The SORNA unit arrested Sanes-Carmona based on a warrant signed by Magistrate Judge Yolan
Brow-Ross on December 16, 2022. Sanes-Carmona was arrested at the V.I. Office of the Attorney
General without incident. He was arrested for violation of 14 V.I.C. 1724 (b)(1) & (2): Failure to
Comply with Sex Offender Registry. He failed to update his place of residency, additional phone
numbers, and vehicles which is mandatory for all sex offenders.
Sanes-Carmona is classified as a Tier III sexual offender for his charge and conviction of
Possession of Child Pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C Sec. 2252 (a)(4)(B). As a result of his
sentence, Mr. Sanes-Carmona has a term of registration pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration
and Notification Act for life, with an appearance frequency of every three (3) months. His first registration date at the DOJ was on December 9, 2020.
Sanes-Carmona was booked at the Wilbur Francis Command and transported to the care and
custody of the Bureau of Corrections. His advice-of-rights hearing was scheduled for yesterday in Superior Court.
According to the plea agreement filed with the U.S. District Court in 2016, Sanes-Carmona was part of a peer-to-peer network on the Internet where he used his desktop computer to possess 51 images of child pornography.
The images showed minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct with adults and other minors, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He was employed by Ranger American of the Virgin Islands prior to his incarceration, court records show.
A registered sexual offender must notify the VIDOJ of his/her name, residence, temporary lodging information, vehicle information, internet identifiers, telephone numbers, school information, and employment status. A team of Special Agents from the VIDOJ and Sexual Offender Registry (SORNA) unit, with the assistance of U.S. Marshals and other local and federal agencies, routinely conducts unannounced inspections of registered sexual offenders to verify their locations and other personal information, such as their work and home addresses.
The Attorney General/VIDOJ is legally mandated to administer and enforce the sex offender
registration laws. Registered sexual offenders in the territory are prosecuted by the Attorney
General for either failing to register or not keeping their registration current and if convicted, the
penalty is a fine of not less than $3,000.00 nor more than $5,000.00, or imprisonment for not less
than three months nor more than two years, or both.
The law also provides that it is an offense to assist a sex of fender to evade the registration requirements, which carries a fine of not less than$1,000.00 nor more than $2,000.00, imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.
The sex offender registry is available for public view at https://usvi.nsopw.gov