ST. THOMAS — Kendrick Christopher, 47, a Grenadian national, and Jeard Shillingford, 33, a Dominican national, pleaded guilty today in District Court to information charging them with encouraging and inducing aliens to enter the United States for commercial or financial gain in violation of law, United States Attorney Ronald W. Sharpe announced.
As part of their pleas, Christopher and Shillingford admitted to operating a sailing vessel containing 61 Haitian nationals seeking to enter the United States illegally, and that they did so for commercial or financial gain knowing that their actions were unlawful.
The United States Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted the vessel off the coast of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands on June 10, 2015.
Christopher and Shillingford face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000.00 fine. This case is being investigated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David White.
Feature Image: Fifty-four Haitian migrants sit aboard a Haitian Coast Guard vessel during a repatriation off the coast of Haiti, June 16, 2015. On June 10, a Caribbean Air & Marine Branch aircraft detected the 54 Haitian migrants aboard a sailing vessel.
Image Credit: U.S. Coast Guard.
Tags: alien smuggling st. thomas virgin islands
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