Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Jerrel Penn sentenced to 54 months for Possession of Counterfeit bills

Jerrel Penn sentenced to 54 months for Possession of Counterfeit bills

High Court Judge Richard G. Floyd has sentenced Jerrel Penn to a total of 54 months for being in possession of counterfeit US currency bills in 2017.

Penn was charged with three counts of Possession of Forged Notes, contrary to section 245 of the Criminal Code 1997 of the Virgin Islands.

He received an 18-month sentence on each count, bringing it to 54 months; however, Judge Floyd ordered that “Since each of these counts arises out of the same transaction, the sentence is to be served concurrently on each count. The total sentence is therefore 18 months.”

“This is a serious offence. In considering the principles of sentencing, I find the need for deterrence to be uppermost in this case. A significant custodial disposition is warranted, notwithstanding the mitigating factors, including a guilty plea being entered and the Defendant being a first offender. Counterfeit money can wreak havoc in a local economy. The greater the number of notes involved, the greater the potential for small businesses and individuals to be devastated. A message must be sent to those who would seek to benefit from such behaviour that it will not be tolerated and will be met with imprisonment,” the judge pointed out.

Penn entered guilty pleas to all three counts and was sentenced on March 19, 2021.

High Court Judge Richard G. Floyd has sentenced Jerrel Penn to a total of 54 months for being in possession of counterfeit US currency bills in 2017.


The Facts


As per the written judgment on the Eastern Caribbean Court’s website, on December 3, 2017, uniformed officers of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force were on mobile patrol in a marked police vehicle when they observed a motor car with heavily tinted glass travelling in the vicinity of the Willard Wheatley Primary School and the East End Police Station.

Officers signalled the vehicle to pull over to the roadside. The vehicle stopped, then reversed at a high rate of speed into the Greenland Road. The vehicle came to rest after colliding with a utility pole and impacting the bumper of the pursuing police vehicle.

The driver was instructed to exit the vehicle; however, because of the strong tint on the windows, police officers could not see the interior of the vehicle and had to strike the window with a police baton for the driver to exit, which he did.

Penn was arrested for reckless driving and placed in handcuffs. Upon being searched, he was found to have $853.00 on his person.

His vehicle was also searched, and a further $9,950.00 in United States Currency (USD) was found both on the right-front passenger seat and below it. When the police asked Penn about the money, he gave them a dollar figure and confirmed it was his. A probe revealed that Penn did not own the vehicle nor did he own a valid driver's license.

Meanwhile, the money was seized by the police and turned over to the Financial Crime Unit, as the notes were suspected to be counterfeit.

A selection of the seized notes was transmitted to the United States Department of Homeland Security for forensic examination and a report was later provided, confirming the notes to be counterfeit.

I did not know!


Court documents state that under caution, Penn, the Defendant, told police he did not know the money was counterfeit and that a man had given him the money to start a business.

He was then charged with three counts of Possession of Forged Notes in varying amounts on the same date based upon what appears to be the three different locations where the money was discovered.

The total amount of forged currency was $9,950.00 consisting of 52 $100 bills and 95 $50 bills; the balance of the money found was legal tender.

Attorneys Kael E. London and Patrice Hickson represented the Crown, and Attorney Israel R. Bruce represented the defendant.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×