CHRISTIANSTED — A former Port Authority officer who smuggled at least 27 pounds of cocaine into the St. Croix airport got five years in prison from a federal judge.
Wayne Jeffers, 53, of St. Croix, was given that sentence by U.S. District Judge Wilma A. Lewis after his conviction on conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, U.S. Attorney Delia L. Smith said today.
In addition to the 64 months in prison, Jeffers was ordered to serve three years of supervised release, 100 hours of community service, pay a fine of $4,000 and a special assessment of $200, Smith added.
According to court documents, on May 11, 2022, Jeffers, a former Virgin Islands Port Authority Officer at the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport in St. Croix, placed a suitcase containing 12 bricks of cocaine into a ladder truck on the ramp of the airport.
Later that day, co-defendant Charles Rawlins III, a former ramp agent at Henry E. Rohlsen Airport, removed the suitcase containing the 12 bricks of cocaine from the ladder truck and placed it on a baggage cart to be loaded on a Seaborne/Silver aircraft that had recently landed.
On November 16, 2023, Rawlins was sentenced to 48 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, 100 hours of community service, a fine of $2,000, and a $200 special assessment, on his conviction on conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
This case was investigated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Homeland Security
Investigations (HSI), and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Huston.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDET