John McCarthy
CHRISTIANSTED — A St. Croix woman was ordered to serve two and a half years behind bars after being convicted on an illegal gun charge.
Shabukah Bannis, 29, was sentenced on Friday to 30 months’ imprisonment for unlawfully possessing a machine gun, Acting U.S. Attorney Adam F. Sleeper said today.
According to court documents, on November 30, 2023, officers with the Virgin Islands Police Department conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle driven by Bannis.
VIPD mug shot of Shabukah Bannis, 29, of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
During the traffic stop, officers detected the odor of marijuana.
Bannis admitted to having marijuana in the vehicle, prompting a vehicle search.
Inside the car, officers recovered marijuana and found a loaded machine gun with an obliterated serial number concealed under the driver’s seat.
In pronouncing sentence, Judge Wilma A. Lewis emphasized that the message must be “loud, clear and unmistakable — the possession of these types of weapons of war cannot and will not be tolerated in this community.”
This case was investigated by the Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD) and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Cherrisse R. Woods.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.
