On Tuesday, May 31, 2022, 52-year-old Wayne Jeffers of St. Croix made his initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Emile A. Henderson, III, according to United States Attorney Delia L. Smith. His appearance in court stems from his May 20, 2022, arrest on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Jeffers faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $10 million if convicted.
According to court documents, on the morning of May 11, 2022, Jeffers, a Virgin Islands Port Authority Officer at the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix, placed a suitcase containing twelve (12) brick-shaped objects onto the driver’s side floor of a ladder truck on the ramp of the airport. The suitcase was seized later that morning, and the brick-shaped objects tested positive for cocaine. The approximate weight of the cocaine is 12.6 kilograms.
The Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are investigating this case, and it is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel H. Huston.
This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
