CHARLOTTE AMALIE — jurors returned a mixed verdict against a St. Lucian man on Tuesday, finding that he is guilty of possessing 462 pounds of cocaine.
Trevor Stephen, 35, of Castries, was found guilty by a federal jury of possession with intent to distribute 210 kilograms of cocaine, U.S. Attorney Delia L. Smith said.
Stephen was also charged with a related conspiracy count, but jurors acquitted him of that crime.
Chief U.S. District Judge Robert A. Molloy scheduled Stephen’s sentencing for October 27, 2023.
The possession charge carries a possible punishment of no less than 10 years in prison, and a maximum of life behind bars, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The unusual trial started on June 12 with Stephen and co-defendant Russell Robinson, who was representing himself pro se and said during opening statements that he’d been forced into the crime at gunpoint by a third party.
Robinson successfully moved for a mistrial after Stephen’s public defenders launched a last-minute duress defense, accusing Robinson of threatening to shoot Stephen if he didn’t help move the seven duffel bags of cocaine from a boat at Vessup Beach.
Robinson, who is currently jailed, will go to trial at a later date. But Robinson told U.S. District Court Chief Judge Robert Molloy that he intends to appeal to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an effort to have the indictment dismissed on the grounds that another trial would violate his double jeopardy rights.
After Robinson was excused, Stephen remained on trial. Stephen took the witness stand in his own defense, tearfully telling jurors that he was afraid that he might be shot, and his family might be harmed if he didn’t cooperate.
He also recounted the events that began on Nov. 29, 2021, when federal agents doing aerial surveillance saw a boat traveling without navigation lights pull up to a waiting truck at Vessup Bay. Three men unloaded seven duffel bags from the boat, and agents tracked their truck as it traveled west, dropping off one of the men on the way.
When agents attempted to stop the truck near Havensight, the driver led law enforcement on a high-speed chase up Mafolie Hill and along hairpin turns on dangerous Northside roads, before ending up trapped at the top of Papaya Hill, a one-way residential road in Hull Bay.
There, the men dumped the bags loaded with 210 kilograms, or 462 pounds, of cocaine into the bush before traveling back down the hill, where agents were waiting to take them into custody.
According to court documents, on November 29, 2021, at approximately 10:15 p.m., a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations aircraft detected a vessel traveling from St. John to St. Thomas without lights onboard.
The vessel traveled to Vessup Beach where two individuals onboard the vessel offloaded seven duffle bags to three individuals waiting at the beach, two of whom were identified as Stephens and Russell Robinson.
Stephens, Robinson, and an unknown individual loaded the duffle bags into Robinson’s Toyota Tundra truck. After departing Vessup Beach, Robinson drove to a nearby home in Nazareth Bay where the three relocated the duffle bags of cocaine from the bed of the truck to the cabin.
The unknown individual remained at the Nazareth Bay property, while Stephens and Robinson drove to Veteran’s Drive where agents attempted to intercept Robinson’s vehicle. Robinson refuse to stop, and agents pursued his vehicle in a high-speed chase that ended on a dead-end road in Hull Bay.
The aviation aircraft maintained surveillance of Robinson and Stephens during the chase and ultimately captured footage as they began throwing the duffle bags of cocaine from the truck into the bushes.
Trial testimony established that the seized cocaine had a street value of approximately $2.1 million.
Stephens was detained pending sentencing, and Robinson remains in custody pending his trial in this matter.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO).
It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kyle Payne and Rhonda Williams-Henry.