The Cyril E. King Airport. Photo Credit: V.I. CONSORTIUM
ST. THOMAS – A man with a Haitian passport was arrested in December by federal agents, and charged with illegally re-entering the United States.
According to the criminal complaint filed against him in District Court, Stheker Regisma arrived at the Cyril E. King airport on St. Thomas on December 9, 2024, ready to board an American Airlines flight to Miami.
Customs and Border Protection agents, however, diverted him to the secondary inspection area to verify his status. There, Mr. Regisma reportedly admitted that he had been deported from the United States back to Haiti in 2018. In 2021, according to the detained man, he left Haiti for St. Maarten and then made his way by boat to St. John. Mr. Regisma reportedly paid $3,000 to a smuggler for the trip to St. John.
Documents submitted to court thus far have given no accounting of Mr. Regisma's movements between September 2021 when he arrived on St. John and December 2024 when he was held at the airport.
Mr. Regisma made his first court appearance on December 10, 2024 before District Court Magistrate Alan Teague, who granted the defendant bail in the sum of a $5000 unsecured bond. However the judge also required that Mr. Regisma be subject to electronic location monitoring via GPS and abide by an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily curfew.
Mr. Regisma's next court appearance is scheduled for January 22.
