Three British Virgin Islands residents are among four persons potentially facing life in prison after being apprehended in close proximity to St. Croix with allegedly 667 kilograms of cocaine on-board their vessel.
This was first revealed by the VI Consortium on Monday January 10, which listed the three BVI residents as Shannon John, Sean John and Emmanuel Tolentino-Lebron.
The trio were jointly charged with Dominican Republic national Augusto Rodriquez-Molina with possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine on a covered vessel, and conspiracy to commit the same offense.
According to the VI Consortium, court documents revealed that on January 9 at around 3:30 pm Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (CBP-AMO) along with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) detected a thirty-two feet vessel headed north towards the vicinity of the British Virgin Islands.
Reports revealed that when law enforcement officers approached the vessel, “it was dead in the water.” The officers allegedly found 667 kilograms of cocaine packaged in approximately 20 block-shaped bales onboard the vessel which was captained by Shannon John.
If convicted, the quartet face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, a sentence which a federal district court judge could determine after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.