The Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix. The VIPD has not provided a mugshot of the suspect.
ST. CROIX — A man who splits his time between California and St. Croix was arrested after airport officials found over a pound of marijuana in his luggage.
According to court documents, police on duty at the Henry E. Rohlsen airport were summoned by Customs and Border Protection officials on Wednesday afternoon, as a seizure had been made at an airport checkpoint.
A CBP canine had reportedly alerted on a suspicious suitcase that was part of the inbound luggage in the east baggage claim area. Officers placed the bag back on the baggage belt, and waited until a man later identified as Samuel Lamar Smith came to retrieve it. Once he had picked up the bag, Smith was detained and taken to the secondary screening area.
He reportedly admitted to owning the suitcase and its contents. The information on the luggage tags also matched with that on his identification documents, police say. Inside the suitcase, CBP officers found evelen 12-ounce glass jars, three 24-ounce jars, and a .12oz bottle, all containing a green substance which returned a positive result when field-tested for marijuana. All together, the cannabis weighed 1.14 pounds.
Smith explained the presence of the marijuana by saying that his friends in California gave it to him as a gift before he left for St. Croix, according to court documents. He denied purchasing it in California or intending to offer it for sale in the Virgin Islands, telling CBP officers that he used the substance to relieve symptoms of medical conditions. However, he reportedly did not possess any documents identifying him as a medical marijuana patient.
He was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana, and unable to post bail, was remanded into custody to await his first court appearance.
In court on Thursday, Magistrate Yolan Brow Ross set bail at $1000, with 10% payable should Mr. Smith wish to secure his release ahead of trial. His next court appearance is scheduled for August 21.
