American travelling on fake passport deported

Christopher Thomas, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

A United States national who entered Jamaica using a fake passport last month was given a deportation order when he appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday.

Thirty-nine-year-old James Van Pelt, of Hampden, Connecticut, was charged with uttering a forged document. He was ordered to pay a fine of $250,000 or spend 60 days in prison.

The court was told that on May 25, Van Pelt arrived in Jamaica via the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay on board a flight from Panama. While checking in, he presented a passport to airport officials in the name of Keith John Beers.

On closer inspection, discrepancies were found with the passport, following which which Van Pelt was referred to the Immigration Investigation Unit. It was discovered that he was wanted in the United States (US) on drug-trafficking charges, and he was subsequently arrested and charged.

When the case was previously mentioned on Friday, June 14, Van Pelt's lawyer Martyn Thomas told Resident Magistrate Carolyn Tie that his client was driven to do what he did because he was wanted in the US on ganja-related charges.

"Mr Van Pelt's mother was diagnosed with a number of illnesses … . Her physician had recommended that she could use medical marijuana. So Mr Van Pelt decided to open a medical marijuana centre, which would allow him to help not only his mother but also others, but it was a case where state law conflicted with federal law," said Thomas.

"I offer him to you as the victim of an unjust political situation. He has been here three weeks and no request has been made by the US for him," added Thomas. "He is not a habitual criminal, but he didn't want to go back to the US because he didn't know what his fate was there."

Clerk of the court Orrett Brown, in outlining the allegations, noted that Van Pelt had bought the fake passport in Mexico.

"Mr Van Pelt had admitted to buying the passport in Mexico for US$1,000, and that he did not use his own passport because he was wanted in the US," said Brown.