Today US fugitive William Russell Jewett appeared in Belize City Magistrate’s
Court. The thirty three year old American is charged with laundering of US$120,000
and two Custom and Excise Department offences. A request for bail was denied
today by Chief Magistrate Margaret McKenzie. But it wasn’t as simple as
that; Jewett’s attorneys Dickie Bradley and Ellis Arnold tried mightily
to secure bail.
Attorney Bradley stated that there is no evidence that William Russell Jewett
will flee if granted bail, that his assets are far beyond what is required for 
bail and that stringent terms and conditions can be set when offering bail.
Attorney Arnold said that one of the considerations the court needs to look
at is the quality of the evidence of the prosecution because the prosecution
has failed to show the court that it has strong evidence.
Counsel Mikhael Arguelles who represented the Financial Intelligence Unit strongly
objected to bail. He said the facts show that William Russell Jewett entered
Belize without a US passport and that the passport he has is not genuine. Counsel
Arguelles also submitted a warrant the US has for Jewett’s arrest because
Jewett failed to appear on August thirty first, 2009 in the southern district
of Alabama in connection with a gun charge.
Chief Magistrate McKenzie upheld the objection to bail because of the warrant
for Jewett’s arrest. William Russell Jewett was remanded to the Belize
Central Prison until February nineteenth.
Belize Police took William Russell Jewett into custody on Friday, January fifteenth
after they searched his boat, latitude adjustment. The vessel was docked at
the Cucumber Beach Marina at Old Belize on the Western Highway. Police acting
on a tip searched the boat and they found the $120,000 hidden behind a panel
inside a closet in the boat’s master bedroom.
Apart from the charge of money laundering, William Russell Jewett was charged
with failure to declare the importation of his vessel valued at seven hundred
and sixty four thousand, four hundred and fifty one dollars and knowingly evading
Customs duty by not reporting his vessel.
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