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ST. CROIX — United States Attorney Delia L. Smith announced Friday that Rionel Allembert, 21, of St. Croix, was charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of a firearm with a school zone. If convicted, Allembert faces up to five years in prison.
According to court documents, on September 28, 2021, members of the Virgin Islands Police Department located a Taurus 9mm handgun in a ditch at #21 Anna’s Hope, St. Croix. DNA testing later revealed the presence of Allembert’s DNA on the firearm. Allembert did not have a license to possess the firearm which was located approximately 290 feet from the Church of God of Holiness Academy, a preschool.
This case is being investigated by the VIPD and members of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force. Assistant United States Attorney Daniel H. Huston is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative. Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide initiative that brings together federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and community leaders to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in a community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. For more information on the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods, please see: https://www.justice.gov/psn.
Smith reminds the public that a criminal complaint is merely a formal charging document and is not evidence of guilt. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
