St. Croix, USVI – U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert announced today that Andres Bejarano, age 34, a Colombian national, appeared before District Court Judge Wilma A Lewis and was sentenced today on the charge of Falsely Representing to be a Citizen of the United States.
Judge Lewis sentenced Bejarano to 6 months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, a fine of $1,000, and a $100 special assessment.
According to court documents, on December 8, 2021, at the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix, Bejarano presented to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers for inspection to board a flight from St. Croix to Florida with a Florida driver’s license. It was later determined that this license belonged to his brother, Daniel Bejarano. When questioned, Bejarano falsely claimed to be a U.S. Citizen. He subsequently admitted that he was using his brother’s ID because he was aware that he had an active warrant for his arrest. In fact, Bejarano had four (4) active outstanding warrants for failure to appear on various drug offenses in Florida.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel H. Huston prosecuted the case.