Dominican flight attendant convicted for money laundering in St Vincent

Last Updated on Monday, 24 November 2014, 22:14 by GxMedia

Thirty-year old Sherita Kernelle-Newton  was find more than US$3,700 or an alternative of  9 months imprisonment.

St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Eyewitness News reports that 30-year old Sherita Kernelle Newton, an employee of  regional carrier LIAT, was charged with taking criminal property into St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Kernelle-Newton pleaded guilty to both charges when she appeared before Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias at the Serious Offences Court in Kingstown.

Facts of the case are that on Wednesday, November 21, law enforcement agents conducted a search of Newton’s apartment at Beachcomers Hotel, and questioned her in relation to monies she had in her possession, suspected to have been derived from criminal conduct.

Newton told police that she had more than the Eastern Caribbean dollar equivalent of more than US$4,400  but when police counted the monies, it amounted to the equivalent of US$10,000. She also had 25 euros in her possession.

Newtown told police that someone in Antigua had given her the money to take to an individual in St. Vincent and that she was paid EC$1,000 to transport the money.

She, however, did not disclose the identities of the person sending the money or the intended recipient.

Sources say that Newton had been transporting money in this way since early 2013.

She was taken into custody and the charges were brought against her after a joint investigation by the Financial Intelligence and the Narcotics Units.

The monies were forfeited to the Confiscated Assets Fund.