A jury in St. Thomas District Court on Thursday convicted a man accused of repeatedly smuggling cocaine through Cyril E. King Airport.
Defendant Gerald Mercer, 42, who was described by prosecutors as a man who persued gain and manipulated friends and associates to get his way, was a marine interdiction officer for the Department of Planning and Natural Resources.
When the trial began Tuesday he faced 17 counts of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute. In the end the jury chose to convict Mercer on one count of the multi-count grand jury indictment. Count 14 detailed 20 occasions between 2012 and 2014 where Mercer and two associates moved five kilograms or more of cocaine through the airport’s security systems.
“All in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 846, and 841(a), and 841(b)(1)(A)(ii)(II),” the indictment read.
District Court Judge Curtis Gomez handed the defendant over to U.S. marshals at the end of the day on Thursday for incarceration. Sentencing is set for Oct. 4.
Testimony by former Government House former security officer Neal Chesterfield placed Mercer at the head of the four-year trafficking ring, although portions of that testimony were ruled irrelevant.
In closing arguments, Prosecutor Delia Smith recounted Chesterfield’s account of how Mercer recruited and convinced him to use his law enforcement credentials to bypass security screening at the St. Thomas airport in order to smuggle drugs to Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
When he was arrested by Customs agents at the Cyril E. King Airport on Sept. 3, 2016, the man from Government House was caught holding 21.5 kilograms of cocaine and more than $26,000 cash.
Chesterfield pleaded guilty to cocaine possession on Dec. 6 and is now in custody, waiting to be sentenced.
His testimony against Mercer came as part of the plea agreement.
In further testimony the witness recalled how, as cocaine arrived in Florida, Mercer directed Chesterfield to hand the drugs over to a coconspirator for distribution on the U.S. mainland.
The plot began to break down because of a dispute over payments for trafficking trips. It was then that Mercer decided to expose the smuggling operation to law enforcement, Smith said at the close.
Prosecutors produced certified phone records, flight records and a record of hotel registrations to document the movement of people matching up with witness statements.
They also produced Homeland Security Special Agent Jason Allen, who spoke about a trip he took to Florida on assignment in 2014 to inspect a speedboat Mercer bought at auction and customized with an extra gas tank and hidden compartments.
Mercer faces a maximum 20 years in prison when he is sentenced. He also becomes the latest DPNR official to be found guilty on criminal charges. Prior convictions linked to the agency, including chief enforcement officer Roberto Tapia, and two former commissioners, Dean Plaskett and Hollis Griffin.