ST. CROIX: A federal judge has ruled that a VIPD detective improperly questioned a handcuffed suspect about a firearm without first providing constitutional rights warnings, making those initial statements inadmissible in court.
Chief U.S. District Judge Robert A. Molloy issued the decision on October 30 in a 10-page opinion concerning Ervin Noel Jr., arrested on May 9, 2025, in Frederiksted on an outstanding warrant.
When officers found a gun beneath the passenger seat of the vehicle in which Noel was traveling, Detective Salim Ross questioned him about ownership while Noel was already in custody and handcuffed at the police station. Ross did not administer Miranda warnings before this exchange, and the conversation was not recorded.
Ross told Noel that the firearm was his and warned that if no one claimed it, both Noel and the vehicle's driver, Omolara Simmonds, would face arrest. Noel then admitted ownership.
Judge Molloy found these circumstances constituted custodial interrogation and therefore suppressed the initial admissions. During a suppression hearing, Ross acknowledged that the exchange had not been recorded and stated "there was no reason that he did not start the camera earlier."
Approximately four minutes later, Ross provided Noel with Miranda warnings. Noel signed a waiver at 1:57 p.m. and participated in a recorded interview lasting about four minutes, during which he again claimed ownership of the firearm, described it and explained how he obtained it.
Judge Molloy declined to suppress the recorded statements. The judge found that Noel understood his rights, voluntarily waived them and appeared alert and coherent during the recorded interview.
The defense raised concerns about Noel's health. Simmonds testified that Noel had been ill for seven days and was being transported to the hospital when police stopped the vehicle. Noel vomited in the police vehicle and told detectives his stomach hurt before the recorded interview.
Ross testified that Noel did not explicitly request medical attention and that he did not learn about the vomiting until after the interview. Officers transported Noel to the hospital at approximately 2:50 p.m., nearly 50 minutes after the recorded interview concluded.
The judge acknowledged Noel's illness but found insufficient evidence that his condition undermined the voluntariness of his later statements, noting that he appeared alert during the recorded interview.
Noel's arrest stemmed from a February 28, 2025, shooting near Legendz Lounge in Frederiksted. A federal grand jury indicted him on January 14, 2026, charging him with illegal possession of a machine gun, discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, unauthorized possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, third-degree assault and first-degree reckless endangerment.
Prosecutors alleged that the recovered firearm had been modified to fire automatically and preliminary ballistic testing connected it to approximately eight other shooting incidents, including two in which people were killed. A federal magistrate judge ordered Noel held pending trial.
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