Alert officials at Customs and Border Enforcement recently apprehended two visitors making their way through St. Thomas’ Cyril E. King Airport. Records kept at the Superior Court say the arrests were unrelated to one another, made over two consecutive days.
The first arrest took place on Aug. 10 when a Customs check of travel documents turned up a Colorado arrest warrant for Kam Garth Kelly, 50. Upon viewing the warrant, officials contacted law enforcement in Jefferson City, Colorado; officials there said the warrant was active and they were willing to extradict Kelly.
No specifics appeared in local court records about the nature of the alleged offense. The subject was notified about the discovery of an outstanding warrant. He was turned over to Port Authority Police and later transported to the Bureau of Corrections.
Kelly was charged as a fugitive, and ordered to appear in Superior Court Magistrates Division for a status hearing on Sept. 9. After conferring with their counterparts in Colorado, the court agreed to not post bail in this matter.
The following day a Florida resident was stopped at King Airport as he prepared to board a flight from St. Thomas to Orlando. According to court records, the passenger, identified as Johnathan Muriel, was found to have an active warrant out for his arrest by Orlando authorities.
Customs officials took Muriel into custody and handed him over to the Virgin Islands Police Department where he was charged as a fugitive. Bail was set locally in Muriel’s case at $3,500 and Florida officials have agreed to travel to the V.I. to retrieve the suspect.
The Virgin Islands Code Title 5, Section 3802 declares that the governor has a duty to arrest and turn over to the executive authority of another state or territory “any person charged in that state with treason, felony, or other crime, who has fled from justice and is found in the Virgin Islands.”
