US quartet charged with Illegal Entry pleads guilty in court; Fined $1000 each
John Hines is 68, a retired navy veteran, his wife, Lynne Ann is a former health instructor, McKinnon is a retired teacher residing in Puerto Rico, and Cancro is a 71-year-old retired electrical engineer.
They all pleaded guilty to the offence when they appeared virtually before Magistrate Christilyn Benjamin on Monday, December 1, 2020, and were fined $1,000 each or spend two months in prison if unable to pay.
Facts
According to Crown Counsel Kristain Johnson, the Joint Agency Task Force at about 1.30 pm on the day in question, received information of a sailing vessel travelling towards Jost van Dyke from St John, USVI.
As a result, the team proceeded towards the western side of Jost van Dyke and spotted the blue boat in the vicinity of Sopher’s Hole travelling in an easterly direction.
The vessel, skippered by Cancro with the three as passengers on board, was located at 18’ 23.885N 064’ 44.041W, which is in the Territorial waters of the Virgin Islands, the court heard.
'Just sailing around'
The court heard that when Cancro was questioned about being in the territorial waters, he reportedly said: “We came from St John, USVI and was just sailing around.”
Cancro then said he was aware that the borders were closed but, “we didn’t touch land.”
The quartet was then escorted to West End and later placed into quarantine at a local hotel.
They were eventually charged with the offence before the court.
Bail
Meanwhile, Attorney David A. Penn, who represented the defendants, made an unsuccessful bail application on their behalf to the court.
Penn said he was hoping that the court would grant his client reasonable bail that they could leave the jurisdiction and return in person or virtually to attend the trial.
However, the Crown objected to bail, stating that the defendants were a flight risk and they had no links or status in the Virgin Islands and there was a high chance that they would not return for their matter.
The court agreed and was setting the trial date early in January 2021 before court officially reopened.
However, due to the prospect of spending over a month at Her Majesty’s Prison, they all admitted their guilt and were sentenced right away.
See link below to related article:
4 US citizens held for illegal entry being 'cared for with BVILOVE'- DPP
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24 Responses to “US quartet charged with Illegal Entry pleads guilty in court; Fined $1000 each”
The people who have been coming to the BVI for years know that we are not like that. People you can't be wrong and strong.
Get in touch with reality..
America and Americans are far from being positive attributes to nonAmerican destinations.
Putting them in their rightful place is applauded worldwide,myfself included and I am American. They are dand
predictably obnoxious, uninformed,racist and an embarassment to common decency.
Kudos to my favorite vacationing home away from home, The Virgin Islands that are British.
@Key West. You need to shut up. Some of you americans full of s****, a lot of s*****. You all over there living lawlessly everyday. Your police killing innocent people with their hands up. Talk that s**** for brains.
Key West, Florida You are an @#$ The law is the law