Marvin Forbes, a 49-year-old from Orlando, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court just before the start of jury selection for his trial on the charge of possession with intent to distribute 12.61 kilograms of marijuana, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert announced Monday.
According to court documents, on June 19, 2020, Forbes arrived at the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas on Spirit Airlines flight 1610, which departed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the airport checked 100 percent of the flight’s checked bags and a K-9 named “Sherpa” alerted to the presence of narcotics in Forbes’ checked bag.
After Forbes removed his bag from the baggage claim belt, CBP officers approached Forbes and escorted him to a secondary location for inspection. In secondary, CBP officers cut a lock on Forbes’ suitcase after he failed to produce the key to open it. Inside Forbes’ suitcase, CBP officers discovered eight (8) vacuum-sealed packages, each containing multiple smaller, individually vacuum-sealed packages of marijuana with a total weight of 12.61 kilograms.
On June 22, 2020, Forbes was released on an unsecured bond and allowed to return to Orlando. Two days later, however, Forbes was arrested in Orlando for larceny offenses. His supervised release was later revoked, and he was detained pending trial.
After pleading guilty, Forbes was remanded to custody. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 6.
This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and CBP. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Delia Smith and is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces.
Shappert said the task force identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
