Craig Muller, 31, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without possibility of parole for his role in the May 2012 shooting death of Gilbert Hendricks Jr., U.S. Attorney Ronald W. Sharpe announced.
Chief District Court Judge Wilma A. Lewis also sentenced Muller to five years in federal prison for a possession of a firearm in a school zone and to 20 years in prison on a local firearms offense. The local sentences are to be served after the federal sentences.
Lewis sentenced Muller to a one-year term of supervised release and to pay a fine of $25,000, $6,360 in restitution and a special assessment of $25.
After a two-week trial, a federal jury on St. Croix on March 24 convicted Muller and codefendant, Elvin Wrensford. Evidence presented at trial established that during the afternoon on May 10, 2012, the defendants argued with a man at Ben’s Car Wash in Estate Princesse. The defendants left and later returned to the car wash in a red truck.
A second man, Gilbert Hendricks Jr., walked out of the car wash, saw the defendants in the truck and began running. The defendants chased Hendricks while in the truck. Wrensford began firing at him as Muller drove. Hendricks fell to the ground and Wrensford continued to shoot at him. Hendricks died as a result of the gunshot wounds.
On May 16, 2012, law enforcement stopped Muller at the San Juan International Airport in Puerto Rico on his way to New York. He voluntarily returned to St. Croix and was arrested.
Through eyewitness testimony, the government established that Muller was the driver of the red truck.
Wrensford was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for the murder and to additional years in prison for firearm charges.
This case was investigated by the Virgin Islands Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Alphonso Andrews Jr. and Rhonda Williams-Henry.