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October 18, 2010 -
Jean Brown, age 41, of Catonsville, Md.,
pleaded guilty on Wednesday to bulk cash smuggling after an
investigation led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Office of Homeland Security Investigations.
The guilty plea
was announced by U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J.
Rosenstein and William Winter, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in
Baltimore.
According to
Brown's plea agreement, shortly before Dec. 25, 2008, Brown gave three
other individuals a total of $562,190 in cash to conceal in their
luggage before boarding a flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Brown provided the plane tickets, and instructed the individuals
not to declare the cash in customs and to deliver the money to Brown's
family who would meet them in the airport in Jamaica.
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On Dec. 25, 2008,
Brown drove the individuals to the Baltimore-Washington
International
Airport where they boarded their flight
to Jamaica.
Before leaving the United States
from Maryland,
none of the individuals declared that they were carrying more than
$10,000, as required by federal law.
When the flight
arrived in Jamaica, the individuals presented
their Jamaican Customs declaration form in which they failed to declare
the money to Jamaican Customs.
The form states that if a traveler is carrying more than $10,000
in U.S. currency,
the traveler must declare the money prior to gaining entry into the
country. Jamaican customs
officers discovered the money in the individuals' luggage, divided among
the individuals as follows: $148,275; $270,290; and $143,625.
Brown faces a
maximum sentence of five years in prison.
U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. has scheduled
sentencing for February 1, 2011.
As part of her plea agreement, Brown has agreed to entry of a
forfeiture judgment of $562,190. United
States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended ICE HSI for its work in the
investigation and thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Stefan
Casella and Peter M. Nothstein, who are prosecuting the case.
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