A 57-year-old Key West resident has pleaded responsible in U.S. District Court docket to a single depend of smuggling in reference to an unlawful gun-running operation involving firearms exported to Haiti.
Jean Wiltene Eugene, a U.S. citizen born in Haiti, entered his plea on Monday, admitting to knowingly exporting firearms with out the mandatory license from the Bureau of Business and Safety. The announcement was made by U.S. Legal professional Edward R. Martin, Jr., Sue J. Bai of the Justice Division’s Nationwide Safety Division, and FBI Appearing Particular Agent in Cost Justin Fleck of the Miami Discipline Workplace. Sentencing is scheduled for July 22.
Court docket paperwork present that Eugene organized to ship automobiles to Haiti by a Florida-based export firm, signing paperwork that explicitly prohibited the cargo of firearms or ammunition. Nevertheless, Eugene later confessed to federal brokers that he had hid firearms in automobiles he shipped in 2020 and 2021, disguising them with meals and different objects to keep away from detection.
In a later interview, Eugene admitted to buying no less than 9 firearms in Key West underneath his personal identify and transport them to his fuel station in Haiti. None of these weapons, he stated, remained in the US. He acknowledged understanding that his actions had been unlawful.
Eugene was arrested on Could 4, 2024, throughout a visitors cease in Key West following the issuance of an arrest warrant.
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The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Miami Discipline Workplace, with assist from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Division of Commerce’s Workplace of Export Enforcement. Prosecutors embody Assistant U.S. Legal professional Kimberly Paschall and Trial Legal professional Beau Barnes from the Nationwide Safety Division.
People convicted of illegally exporting firearms face penalties of as much as 20 years in jail and fines of as much as $1 million.
