St. Croix \u2013 Chief District Court Judge Wilma A. Lewis, on Thursday sentenced\u00a0Paul Girard, 27, to 37 months in prison for possession of prison contraband, United States Attorney\u00a0Ronald W. Sharpe announced via press release on Friday.<\/p>\n
Judge Lewis ordered Girard to serve the sentence consecutively to a\u00a0separate sentence imposed by the Superior Court on March 3, 2015.<\/p>\n
Girard pleaded guilty to four counts of possession of prison contraband on January 9, 2015.\u00a0The charges stemmed from cell searches conducted by members of Golden Grove Adult Correctional\u00a0Facility\u2019s Gang Intelligence Search Team on November 16, 2012; January 16, 2013; and June 18,\u00a02013, as well as a search conducted by federal law enforcement officers on April 7, 2014, while\u00a0Girard was an inmate. The officers discovered and seized cell phones, a knife, and a homemade\u00a0weapon or \u201cshank\u201d during the searches.<\/p>\n
\u201cContraband in prison threatens the safety and security of inmates, employees, and the\u00a0community as a whole,\u201d Attorney Sharpe said. \u201cCell phones, in particular can be used to\u00a0facilitate criminal activity inside and outside of Golden Grove including narcotics distribution and\u00a0murder.\u201d<\/p>\n
Girard was sentenced on two counts each to 12 months in prison for possessing cell phones,\u00a037 months for possessing a knife, and 37 months for possessing a shank, all to be served\u00a0concurrently. The Court also sentenced Girard to one year of supervised release on each of the\u00a0cellular telephone counts and to three years of supervised release on each of the weapon counts to\u00a0run concurrently. Finally, the Court ordered Girard to pay a special assessment of $250.00.<\/p>\n
The case was investigated by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and\u00a0the Virgin Islands Bureau of Corrections. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys\u00a0Rhonda Williams-Henry and Alphonso Andrews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
St. Croix \u2013 Chief District Court Judge Wilma A. Lewis, on Thursday sentenced\u00a0Paul Girard, 27, to 37 months in prison for possession of prison contraband, United States Attorney\u00a0Ronald W. Sharpe announced via press release on Friday. Judge Lewis ordered Girard to serve the sentence consecutively to a\u00a0separate sentence imposed by the Superior Court on March […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[228,191,147],"tags":[1939,2659,71],"yoast_head":"\n