April 5, 2003 – A St. Croix lawyer arrested on Friday for marijuana possession with intent to distribute denied engaging in any felony behavior in a statement from her attorney that called her arrest "unfair and unfortunate."
Lee J. Rohn, 54, was allegedly found with 13.3 grams of marijuana concealed in her luggage while boarding a plane to Puerto Rico last weekend, according to an affidavit filed by Police officer Christopher Howell, who is assigned the Drug Enforcement Administration High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area on St. Croix.
Howell said that about 6:10 p.m. on March 29, Rohn was stopped for a routine Transportation Safety Administration inspection during which a screener "discovered a substance believed to be marijuana in a vacuum-sealed plastic bag, further contained in a tennis shoe" in Rohn's bag.
Upon discovery of the substance, Howell said, Rohn then pleaded with the screener to "act like she did not see it." A supervisor was notified, he said, U.S. Customs enforcement officers took custody of the substance, and a field test showed it to be marijuana.
Rohn, the affidavit said, told a customs inspector that she was taking the marijuana to her Rastafarian boyfriend in Puerto Rico because his father was dying and he needed "something to help him get through it."
The inspector said, according to Howell, that the federal government has a "zero tolerance" policy on narcotics possession. "Rohn said she was not concerned because it was a misdemeanor," Howell said, but the customs agent "informed Ms. Rohn that it was not a misdemeanor but a felony."
Under V.I. law, one-half ounce of marijuana constitutes felony possession. Rohn is charged with having less than that — 13.3 grams, which translates to 0.47 ounce. Her claim that the marijuana was intended for someone other than herself could be the basis for the felony charges, a high-ranking police official said on Saturday.
Pamela Colon, Rohn's attorney, said in a release that Attorney General Iver Stridiron had charged Rohn with attempting to transport "a small amount" of marijuana to her boyfriend, Darrell "Kefee" Jackson.
A hit-and-run driver had struck Jackson's 83-year-old father, Charles Jackson, that day, and Rohn was attempting to arrange the man's medical transfer to Puerto Rico for emergency brain surgery, Colon said. Darrell Jackson was traveling from Texas to meet them in Puerto Rico, the statement said. Colon said Charles Jackson did not survive his injuries.
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