Federal officials arrested a cruise ship passenger who allegedly placed a hidden camera in a public restroom while the ship sailed from Miami to the Dominican Republic, and then to St. Thomas, according to court records. Three other men were charged with attempting to smuggle drugs through Cyril E. King Airport.
Soon after the Celebrity Beyond left Cabo Macoris on March 31, staff cleaning a unisex bathroom discovered a pen fitted with a tiny video camera hidden beneath discarded hand towels, the ship’s chief security officer told Federal Bureau of Investigations agents.
Footage from the ship’s security cameras revealed nine passengers going into the restroom earlier that day, including Robert Qi Peng, of Charlotte, North Carolina, according to court records.
After the ship docked in Crown Bay April 1, FBI and Port Authority agents reviewed the pen-camera’s memory card and found video of Peng arranging the camera to surveil the toilet, according to charging documents. The 90-minute video then shows multiple people using the toilet.
FBI agents interviewed Peng. He allegedly admitted he’d started making secret toilet recordings as the ship left Miami on March 30. Videos found on Peng’s laptop showed adults and at least one child using the toilet. He told FBI agents he’d purchased several similar spy cameras earlier this year, according to court records.
Charged with unlawful video voyeurism, Peng could be sentenced to a year in prison and a maximum $100,000 fine if found guilty.
The cruise ship left without Peng, who appeared in District Court April 2. U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Alan Teague ordered him not to use any covert recording devices while released on $1,000 bond. Peng was also ordered to continue looking for a job.
It wasn’t the only crime at the territory’s ports in recent weeks.
Federal authorities arrested three separate men allegedly attempting to smuggle drugs through the Cyril E. King Airport.
On April 2, Clearlake, California resident Damian Travis Blaskesley arrived at Cyril E. King airport on a flight from San Francisco via Washington, D.C. As bags were being removed from the aircraft, a Customs and Border Patrol narcotics-detecting dog, Molly, indicated Blaskesley’s large pink bag likely contained illicit drugs, according to court records. Inside, CBP agents found several suspicious sealed black bundles.
The federal agents put the bag back on the baggage claim treadmill and watched as Blaskesley retrieved it. After Blaskesley confirmed it was his bag, CPB agents cut open the 20 black bundles, revealing more than 22.2 pounds of cannabis, according to court records. Blaskesley told the agents he had not packed the bag.
He was charged with possession with intent to distribute cannabis and released on $1,000 bail.
Drug-detecting dogs helped border agents thwart another alleged cannabis trafficker on March 3, when the K-9 officer flagged a bag belonging to a passenger arriving from Atlanta, according to court records.
CBP officers at Cyril E. King airport questioned St. Thomas-resident Avante George, who allegedly confirmed he had packed the blue suitcase containing more than 15. pounds of cannabis. George allegedly told Homeland Security Investigations officers the marijuana was his and he intended to sell it, according to court records.
He was charged with possession with intent to distribute cannabis and released on $5,000 bail.
That same day, CBP Agricultural Specialist agents were X-raying all bags at the airport and spotted an alleged anomaly in the lining of two suitcases bound for New York from St. Thomas. CBP officers emptied the suitcase and X-rayed it again, eventually removing four sheets that a K-9 unit indicated contained more than 15.5 pounds of cocaine.
The suitcases’ alleged owner, Leroy Gail Leslie, was charged with possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance.
Leslie had been arrested in May 2012 for unlawful immigration status but had since become a U.S. citizen. Facing more than 10 years imprisonment, Leslie was held without bail.
