DPP Sherma Dalrymple Intervenes as Jason Grogg Pleads Guilty to Firearms/Ammo
American citizen Jason James Grogg has pleaded guilty to the possession and trafficking of firearms and ammunition to Dominica. Grogg entered a guilty plea following his family arrest and arraignment at the High Court in Roseau on Monday. It took the intervention of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Sherma Dalrymple, to temporarily get Grogg’s wife and daughter off the hook.
Police and customs authorities bursted into Grogg’s residence in Belfast to execute a search warrant on April 17.
During the search, they uncovered one 9mm Glock pistol and several 9mm and 20mm ammunition. A 40-foot storage container belonging to him and placed in the compound of a church in Mahaut was also searched and four M16 magazines – each containing 30 rounds of ammunition – as well as 17 20-gauge ammunition were also seized.
Based on the discovery, Grogg and his wife, Jennifer Elaine, and 18-year-old daughter Hannah as well as children aged 16, 14, and 12 were arrested. Grogg, Jennifer, Hannah, and the 16-year-old were placed in police cells while the 14- and 12-year-olds were remanded at a children’s home. The family’s lawyers Julien Prevost and Jilane Prevost filed an urgent writ of Habeas Corpus and the case was brought before Justice Thomas W.R. Astaphan.
Following the protest of the lawyers that the constitutional rights of the Groggs were violated by extended detention in police custody and that the police abused the arrest process, Justice Astaphan ruled that it was unlawful for the police to detain the children aged 16, 14, and 12. The judge ordered the release and withdrawal of charges against the 16-year-old even though the police had already filed charges against her.
After Astaphan decided that it was lawful for the police to arrest Jason, Jennifer, and Hannah based on the outcome of their investigation, the trio were moved to the Magistrate Court where the charges were read to them.
According to the charge, the police alleged that between September 21-25, 2021, Jason and Jennifer at the Woodbridge Bay Port unlawfully trafficked:
- 120 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition
- 17 rounds of universal 20-gauge Winchester ammunition
- 45 rounds of .9mm ammunition
- One 57mm M16 spent shell casing
- Three 20mm M21A1B1 spent shell casing
- Three 20mm projectile
- One 37mm M63 projectile
- One .9mm Glock 19 pistol
- Three .9mm 15-round capacity magazines, and
- Four 30-round capacity 5.56 magazines
The couple was also accused of possessing and trafficking in firearms and ammunition without valid licenses. James Grogg pleaded guilty but his Jennifer and Hannah pleaded not guilty. Based on this development, the police sought advice from the DPP who came to the court in person during the afternoon session after the hearing resumed. Dalrymple withdrew all charges against mother and daughter while the case against Jason was postponed to April 25.
Investigations revealed that American officials from the US embassy arrived to Dominica from Barbados to monitor the situation. They were said to have spoken to the Grogg family.
Meanwhile, it will be recalled that a Christian organization in Mahaut named Feed My Sheep (FMS) and for which Grogg volunteered banished the American citizen for fraud and abusive behaviour last month. According to the executives of the organization, Grogg is not to be associated with the group in any manner.
“We, the Board of Directors of Feed My Sheep (FMS), would like to make a public statement regarding a USA visitor, named Jason Grogg,” the organization announced some weeks ago. “Mr. Grogg came to Dominica from the USA and offered his services as a volunteer at our organization, as many visitors have done in the past. However, due to his recent abusive and fraudulent behavior towards our organization and members, we need to let the public know that we have disassociated ourselves from him.”
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