June 7, 2007 — A second drug smuggler was sentenced to more than a decade in prison Wednesday for plotting to smuggle pounds of cocaine and heroin into the Virgin Islands.
Judge Raymond Finch sentenced Brenneis A. Nesbitt, 33, to 17-and-a-half years in prison for plotting to smuggle more than five kilograms of cocaine and more than one kilogram of heroin into St. Thomas, according to U.S. Attorney Anthony Jenkins. Nesbitt could have received a life sentence.
Nesbitt pleaded guilty Aug. 3, 2005, admitting he was a leader in the conspiracy that hid drugs under fish and ice in coolers. He helped illegally import more than 28 kilograms of cocaine and heroin into the U.S. Virgin Islands and mainland between May 2003 and February 2004, Jenkins said in a written statement.
Eleven others involved in the drug ring have pleaded guilty or were convicted by a jury, said Joycelyn Hewlett, an assistant U.S. attorney.
On Tuesday, Vernon Grant, 36, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his part in the plot. (See "Frozen-Drug Smuggler Put On Ice for 14 Years.") Grant was convicted Oct. 20, 2006.
Nine more sentences are expected this month, Hewlett said. The arrest was made by officers of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, which includes the DEA, FBI, the V.I. Police Department and the V.I. National Guard.
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