A combined effort by officers of the Special Operations Bureau from St. Thomas/St. John and St. Croix Districts produced three firearm arrests on St. Croix, the V.I. Police Department reported.
– At roughly 4:34 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 2, officers arrested Marcus Daniel, age 22 and Rosniel Diaz Bautista, age 18, both of Lagoon Complex, and charged them with possession of an unlicensed firearm.
Daniel and Diaz were passengers in a vehicle stopped during a traffic initiative on Hams Bluff Road in the vicinity of Rhythms at Rainbow Beach. Both men were found with firearms on their person. As neither was licensed to carry a firearm, they were placed under arrest.
– At about 2:18 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3, officers arrested Joseph H. Narinesingh, age 19 of Upper Love, also charging him with possession of an unlicensed firearm.
Narinesingh was an occupant of a vehicle stopped on Northside Road, in the vicinity of Morningstar. During the traffic stop, he admitted to having a firearm on his person. Narinesingh does not have a license to possess a firearm, and he was placed under arrest as a result.
Bail for Daniel, Diaz and Narinesingh were set at $50,000 each. None of the men were able to post bail and were turned over to the custody of the Bureau of Corrections pending their advice of rights hearings.
St. Croix Chief of Police Sidney Elskoe commended the Special Operations Bureau for the arrests and thanked the officers from the St. Thomas/St. John District for assisting in the initiative. “We will keep the pressure on those who want to possess illegal firearms,” Elskoe said.