Three foreign nationals were sentenced Wednesday in two separate cases in District Court on St. Thomas, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert reported.
Dionis Luiz Gomez, Roman Perez Hernandez
Dionis Luiz Gomez, 31, of Venezuela and Roman Perez Hernandez, 34, of Argentina were sentenced by Magistrate Judge Ruth Miller to 52 days for illegal entry into the United States, Shappert said. Each man also was ordered to pay a $10 special assessment.
According to court documents, at about 9 p.m. on Oct. 21, 2018, agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations were patrolling the coastline of St. John near Haulover Bay when they encountered a Virgin Islands registered vessel with no running lights illuminated. Upon further inspection, the agents determined that there were five males onboard, including defendants Gomez and Hernandez.
The vessel was on course to an area that is not a port of entry authorized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Following his apprehension by federal law enforcement, defendant Gomez was read his Miranda Rights in Spanish and waived his rights both verbally and in writing, the court records say. He told authorities that he had arrived in Tortola, BVI, on Sept. 27.
Neither Gomez nor Hernandez were U.S. citizens, but were nationals of Venezuela and Argentina, respectively. Gomez and Hernandez did not have permission to enter the United States and the area where the boat was stopped was not a designated port of entry.
Lester Charles
Lester Charles, 36, a national of Dominica, was sentenced Wednesday after having pleaded guilty to being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm, according to Shappert.
District Court Judge Curtis V. Gomez sentenced Charles to 24 months imprisonment and three years of supervised release.
According to court documents, a V.I. Police Department officer went to an area in Lindberg Bay where Charles and another individual became involved in a heated dispute over a parking space. Charles left the scene and returned 15 minutes later with a firearm. He proceeded to chase and point the firearm at the victim. The firearm, a Beretta Pierto Model CAT- 5802, was recovered by law enforcement at the scene, along with 10 rounds of ammunition, including one round in the chamber of the firearm. The defendant admitted to law enforcement officers that he had possessed the gun.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the VIPD. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Everard E. Potter.
