A Florida judge has delayed the sentencing of former British Virgin Islands Ports Authority Managing Director Oleanvine Pickering Maynard and her son Kadeem Maynard to early 2024, when the trial of their co-defendant, former BVI Premier Andrew Fahie, is scheduled to start.
The delay could help the would-be narcotics runners take advantage of changes in sentencing guidelines for non-violent offenders set to take effect in November. The mother and son pleaded guilty to a single cocaine smuggling conspiracy charge June 12 and were originally scheduled to be sentenced Monday.
The federal judge’s order, published Friday, schedules Pickering Maynard to be sentenced Jan. 18, the same day Fahie’s trial on cocaine smuggling and money laundering charges is to start. The Miami judge further delayed Kadeem Maynard’s sentencing because of a court calendar conflict. The Maynards could be sentenced to more than a decade in prison.
Fahie, 53, has maintained his innocence and is under house arrest at his daughter’s Miami apartment. The 53-year-old former BVI leader could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted on all charges, which include allegedly planning to make Tortola a major through-point for drugs.
Both Maynard and Pickering Maynard have asked the court for lighter sentences. The St. Thomas and Tortola family of Pickering Maynard sent letters to the judge asking for leniency and Maynard cited changes in sentencing guidelines. The United States Sentencing Commission voted in April to allow lesser sentences for non-violent felons who don’t have prior records and meet other conditions.
Maynard, who did not have a previous criminal record, claimed to have a minor role in the plot to smuggle thousands of pounds of cocaine and potentially weapons through the BVI. Prosecutors, however, have said they have secretly-recorded audio evidence where the self-employed 32-year-old allegedly bragged about a lifetime of drug smuggling. He also allegedly asked to be partially paid in large sums of cocaine.
Maynard told the court that, unlike his mother and Fahie, he had no power to advance the alleged scheme through potential layers of government corruption. Through his lawyer, Maynard claimed to have simply introduced his mother to what he believed to be a drug cartel representative. It was his second attempt at a lighter sentence.
Pickering Maynard and Fahie were arrested on a Miami airstrip April 28, 2021, after stepping off a private jet they thought contained pre-payment for a first cocaine shipment, prosecutors said. That same day, Maynard was arrested in St. Thomas, where prosecutors said he expected to receive his first payment.
The three used code names during the alleged plot. Maynard was Blacka. Pickering Maynard was Rose or P, and Fahie was allegedly Coach or Head Coach.
