American offered $500,000 bail in weapons purchase case

AN AMERICAN businessman, who allegedly purchased five of the weapons that were discovered in a massive gun find in a warehouse at the wharf in Kingston in March last year, has been offered bail in the sum of $500,000.

The 32-year-old defendant, Fitzroy Johnson, who resides in Atlanta, Georgia, was last Tuesday granted bail in the Gun Court on conditions that he surrender his travel documents and report to the police three times weekly.

Attorney-at-law Kemar Robinson during his application denied any involvement on the part of his client in the importation and purchase of the illegal guns and ammunition.

He was arrested at the Norman Manley International Airport on his arrival in the island on November 3.

Johnson, who is charged with conspiracy to illegally import guns and ammunition, is the third foreigner to have been arrested in the illegal gun find, in which 2,000 rounds of ammunition were also discovered.

According to investigators, Johnson had entered into an arrangement and paid for five of the illegal guns.

In the meantime, four other persons who are charged in the matter, including the alleged mastermind and the other two foreigners, had their bails extended to return to court on December 14 for a plea and case management hearing.

A trial date was also scheduled for May 13 next year.

Godfrey Martin, otherwise called ‘Rev’, a St Elizabeth businessman who is alleged to be the mastermind, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to illegally import guns and ammunition.

Sherilyn McLean, the girlfriend of the 51-yearold businessman, was also charged in the matter.

Similarly charged are two United States nationals – Jermaine Baker, a 36-year-old chef of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and 42-year-old Dervan Brown, a construction worker of Bronx, New York. Brown was shot and killed in Spanish Town, St Catherine, on November 6.

The four were charged following the illegal gun find on March 4, 2022. Three rifles, 18 handguns, and 2,216 rounds of ammunition were discovered after customs officers detected a suspicious package and summoned the Contraband Enforcement Team.