Dwight Ivan Durant, a supervisor for the Transportation Security Administration, was one of two men arrested and charged with participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
Durant, a 44-year-old resident of the Virgin Islands, was arrested Tuesday on St. Thomas and made his initial appearance in federal court Wednesday, according to the announcement.
The other suspect named in the indictment, Shawn Dowe, 29, was arrested in California and will make his initial appearance in federal court Thursday.
The indictment was returned in Miami, where the defendants will stand trial.
The indictment, filed Nov. 14 in Miami, was unsealed Tuesday, charging Durant and Dowe with conspiracy to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine and with aiding and abetting the possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
If convicted, the defendants each face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the case resulted from the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and to convict those responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply, the announcement said.
The announcement was attributed to several law enforcement agencies, including Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Ronald W. Sharpe, U.S. attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands; Mark R. Trouville, special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Miami Field Division; Vito S. Guarino, special agent in charge from the DEA’s Caribbean Division; and Angel M. Melendez, special agent in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in San Juan and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin M. Davis.
