ST. CROIX – A 24-year-old St. Thomas man faces an additional sixteen years in prison and $352,000 in fines for allegedly threatening to kill a murder witness over social media last year, according to U.S. Attorney Ronald Sharpe.
A federal grand jury on Tuesday returned a seven-count indictment against Kamoui Francis charging him with transmission of threat to injure, possession of prison contraband and threatening a witness, Sharpe said.
According to the indictment, a testifying witness in a murder case in Superior Court in St. Croix received several threatening messages from January 28 to January 31 of 2014. The threats were received through a Facebook account and warned that if any of the defendants were found guilty, the witness and members of the witness’ family would be killed.
During a search of the Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility on February 5, 2014, where Francis was an inmate, he was found in possession of the cellular telephone from which the threats were made, the indictment said.
Francis is scheduled to make his first federal court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge George Cannon on May 29. If convicted of threatening a witness, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $2,000 fine; if convicted of transmission of threat to injure, he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine; if convicted of possession of prison contraband, he faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rhonda Williams-Henry.
Sharpe said the indictment is merely a formal charging document and is not in and of itself evidence of guilt.
“Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty, he said.
Tags: facebook crime, st. croix facebook crime, usvi
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