Benoit convicted of drug possession

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Details: Parent Category: Feb 2012; Category: Week end Feb 18th, 2012; Published on Monday, 20 February 2012 20:25; Hits: 665

Local businessman Aundel Benoit has been found guilty of two counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and importing a controlled substance in U.S. District Court last week Wednesday. However, while Benoit has been found guilty by the jurors, his co-defendant Carlyle Williams has been acquitted.

The two defendants left Grenada on a cutter that is owned by Benoit carrying about 550 pounds of cocaine with a street value of US $5 million destined for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 2010. The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted the boat “Laural”, which hails from Fort Lauderdale, Florida., in international waters south of Virgin Gorda about 10 a.m. on April 12, 2010, according to an affidavit filed by Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Curtis Lilley.

Benoit who operates the Mangrove Restaurant at Westerhall, St. David’s, and Williams were on board the boat at the time. The Coast Guard advised Benoit who owned the boat for 19 years to head for St. Thomas. A K-9 unit’s search “indicated a positive alert” for the presence of drugs aboard Laural at the St. Thomas Coast Guard dock, according to the affidavit.

The boat remained at the dock overnight and was hauled out at Independent Boat Yard, where a Department of Homeland Security team scanned the boat with an X-ray that “revealed an anomaly within the hull near the rear of the vessel,” Lilley wrote.

Customs and Border Patrol Agents drilled through the hull and pushed a steel rod through the hole and found the rod’s tip was caked with cocaine when they removed it, according to the affidavit. The agents had to dismantle the stern compartment, which was sealed with fiberglass and painted to match the hull’s configuration.

Benoit will be sentenced in District Court on May 10. Local defense attorney Anselm Clouden who commented on the outcome of the case said he is not surprised that Benoit was convicted. However, Clouden told reporters he believes there is still an opportunity for Benoit to appeal the conviction which would involve maritime issues and fresh evidence with respect to maritime jurisdictional issues.

He said he understood those issues were never raised during the trial and as a result it was fatal to Benoit's case.