St. Croix man keeps $27K after gun charge plea deal

A St. Croix resident has walked away from a firearm arrest without a felony conviction and recovered more than $27,000 in seized cash, court records show.

Ramon Antonio Gantier Jr., 25, was found sleeping intoxicated on the patio of the Cool Out Bar in Estate Peter's Rest early on March 27, 2025. Police had been called to remove a trespasser after the bar closed. Officers noted slurred speech and a strong smell of alcohol as they woke him. To defuse the situation, bar staff agreed to let him leave his vehicle overnight if officers arranged transportation home.

As Gantier gathered his belongings, a bar worker brought over a black crossbody bag and made a gesture mimicking a gun. Inside officers found a silver Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol with a loaded magazine and a spare 10-round clip. Gantier told police the weapon belonged to Ranger American, a private security contractor, but supervisors at the firm denied ownership. The Virgin Islands Police Department Firearms Bureau confirmed Gantier held no firearms permits in the territory.

When a tow truck arrived to impound his vehicle, an inventory search of the back seat uncovered a Sprayground backpack holding $27,050 in cash: 800 twenty-dollar bills, 71 one-hundred-dollar bills, and 79 fifty-dollar bills. Gantier offered no explanation for the money's source.

Prosecutors initially charged him with felony firearm and ammunition offences. The Virgin Islands Department of Justice later agreed to a plea deal, reducing the charges to a single misdemeanor count of failing to report a firearm brought into the territory.

Superior Court Judge Venetia Harvey Velazquez sentenced Gantier under a statutory diversion programme for first-time offenders. He received two years of supervised probation, 50 hours of annual community service each year, a drug and alcohol evaluation, and $575 in court costs and fees. If he completes probation, his record will be cleared without a conviction.

When Gantier's defence attorney H. Hannibal O'Bryan filed a motion demanding return of the seized items, prosecutors did not object or pursue civil asset forfeiture. Judge Velazquez ordered police to return his mobile phone, the designer backpack, and all $27,050 in cash. The department kept only a small vial of leafy material that tested positive for marijuana.