A convicted drug trafficker who was part of a team that led federal authorities on a chase across St. Thomas in pursuit of a cocaine-laden truck was sentenced to 37 months in prison on Wednesday. Defendant Trevor Stephen was found guilty at the end of a criminal trial held at St. Thomas District Court in June 2023.
Federal authorities testifying at trial presented video surveillance footage and witness statements putting Stephen at the scene of Vessup Beach on Nov. 29, 2019. There, he was seen loading duffle bags into a pickup truck belonging to one-time codefendant Russell Robinson and a third, unidentified person.
Surveillance cameras flown by a pursuing helicopter captured the trio as they sped from the beach across St. Thomas to Hull Bay on the North Side, where Stephen and Robinson were apprehended.
Stephen declined to put on a defense during the trial that began June 13 and ended in his conviction on drug possession but not drug conspiracy. Robinson was granted a mistrial and appeared as the sole defendant in a retrial that began March 11.
Stephen later filed a motion to vacate his conviction and request a new trial. Chief District Judge Robert Molloy denied the motion on Dec. 18.
Former codefendant Robinson went on to face his own guilty verdict on March 14. Molloy set sentencing in that case for July 3.
