CHRISTIANSTED — The brother of a British Virgin Islands boat captain who brought 1,470 pounds of cocaine worth $20 million to St. Croix got 5.8 years in prison from a federal judge.
Sean John, 35, of Road Town, Tortola, was sentenced to 70 months of imprisonment by U.S. District Court Judge Wilma A. Lewis on his conviction of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine while on board a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, U.S. Attorney Delia L. Smith said. Judge Lewis also gave John two years of supervised release and a special assessment of $100.00.
According to court documents, on January 9, 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
Air and Marine (AMO) agents detected a vessel with bales of suspected cocaine in plain view on the deck of the vessel.
The vessel was traveling on the northeast side of St. Croix heading north towards the British Virgin Islands. Upon further investigation, agents encountered a 32-foot Manta low-profile vessel with twin 300 HP outboard engines located at approximately 19 nautical miles northeast of St. Croix in international waters in an area known by law enforcement for drug trafficking.
The vessel was dead in the water and displayed no indicia of nationality, flag nor registration, and was determined to be a vessel without nationality, thus subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
Onboard the vessel, agents discovered 21 bales wrapped in plastic and encased in rope four. Drug Enforcement Administration laboratory analysis later confirmed that the 21 bales recovered from the vessel contained approximately 567 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride.
Also onboard the vessel were defendants Shannon John, Sean John, Emmanuel Tolentino-Lebron and Augusto RodriguezMolina, all of whom pleaded guilty to the cocaine conspiracy charge.
This case was investigated by the United States Coast Guard, Homeland Security
Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Melissa P. Ortiz.
This prosecution 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, multi-agency approach that leverages the
strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.