St. Thomas resident Kamoui Francis, 24, was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury charging him with transmission of threat to injure, possession of prison contraband, and threatening a witness, U.S. Attorney Ronald W. Sharpe announced.
In a news release issued Tuesday afternoon, Sharpe said Francis is scheduled to make his first appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge George W. Cannon on May 29.
According to the indictment, a testifying witness in a murder case in the Superior Court on St. Croix received several threatening messages on Jan. 28, 30 and 31, 2014. The threats were received through a Facebook account, and warned that if any of the defendants were found guilty, the witness and members of the witness’ family would be killed.
The indictment said a search on Feb. 5, 2014, of Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility, where Francis was an inmate, discovered that he was in possession of the cellphone from which the threats were made.
If convicted of transmission of threat to injure, Francis faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted of possession of prison contraband, he faces a maximum of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. If convicted of threatening a witness, he faces a maximum of ten years or a $2,000 fine, or both.
The case is being investigated by the FBI. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rhonda Williams-Henry.