BVI man pleads guilty to smuggling Dominican Republic man into USVI

By MERRICK ANDREWS, Online News Editor

(JTV News) — Samuel Davies of Tortola, British Virgin Islands (BVI) is in hot water with the United States US) legal system after he admitted to bringing an illegal Dominican Republic migrant to Coral Bay, St. John for financial gain, according to news reports and court documents.

Davies pleaded before US Magistrate, Judge Ruth Miller, US Attorney General Delia L. Smith announced on Friday.

Court records show that, on September 7, 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations intercepted a vessel as it approached Coral Bay, St. John, with no navigational lights.

Davies, who was the captain of the intercepted vessel, and a man from the Dominican Republic male, were the only occupants on board.

Davies and his passenger failed to produce legal documentation that would allow them entry into the US, officials said in the document.

According to court records, Davies later told law enforcement officials that he met a man in Tortola he only knows as “San Diego”.

He told the officials that “San Diego” asked him to take the Dominican Republic man to Jost Van Dyke, BVI.

Davies claimed he accidentally ended up in Coral Bay, St. John.

The Dominican Republic man has since been deported.

Davies, meanwhile, is awaiting sentencing by a federal judge.