U.S. District Court Judges In The U.S. Virgin Islands Are Greenlighting Marijuana Smugglers
CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Federal judges in the U.S. Virgin Islands are making it crystal clear to defendants — whether you bring three pounds or 40 pounds of marijuana in your checked luggage — you will get no prison time for smuggling the drug to our ganja-crazy territory.
Case in point is Christopher Dunn, 49, of Queens, New York, who was sentenced to four years of probation by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Robert Molloy on his conviction of
possession with intent to distribute 1.37 kilograms of marijuana. Judge Molloy also
ordered Dunn to pay a $2,000.00 fine, and a $100.00 special assessment.
According to the evidence presented at trial, on February 11, 2021, Dunn arrived at the Cyril E. King airport a flight from JFK New York.
While conducting flight inspections, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers discovered a green leafy substance in Dunn’s carry-on luggage.
CBP officers then escorted Dunn to secondary inspection where they conducted a thorough search of Dunn’s carry-on bags and discovered three vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana weighing approximately 1.37 kilograms (about three pounds).
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces
(OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highestlevel 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. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and CBP investigated.
Assistant United States Attorney Natasha Baker prosecuted this case.