Bail offered to J'can man fighting deportation after helping US authorities convict Dudus

The undocumented Jamaican man who is fighting deportation after helping United States (US) authorities convict drug kingpin Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke has been offered bailed, according to a report by the New York Daily News.

However, it is unclear if the convicted drug dealer, identified in court documents only as ‘Sean B’, can afford the US$25,000 bail offer.

According to the report, immigration Judge Margaret Kolbe ruled, during a hearing this week, that Sean can be released while he fights deportation.

“While the court acknowledges that there is a serious criminal history here, it has also been presented evidence that he has significant ties here in the United States and that he has significantly assisted law enforcement," Kolbe said.

“While this does not necessarily undermine the seriousness of his past history, the court does not have to put blinders on to not see that his period of cooperation does somewhat counteract his past serious criminal history in terms of current dangerousness.”

But it remained unclear if Sean can afford the bond that must be paid in full to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

His attorney Craig Relles described the US$25,000 bail offer “prohibitive” and said Sean’s family does not know if they can pay for it.

Sean, who was known in Coke’s Shower Posse as “Cowboy,” pleaded guilty to trafficking charges and began cooperating with the feds after he was arrested in 2009 for entering the US illegally for the third time.

He was set to give evidence at Coke’s drug trafficking trial, which was averted after the former Tivoli Gardens strongman pleaded guilty to trafficking more than three tonnes of marijuana and 30 pounds of cocaine into the US.

But the newspaper reports that his cooperation with US authorities in the case against Coke made him a marked man in Jamaica.

It said Sean narrowly escaped death after ICE deported him to Kingston in May.

“He spent a harrowing three days on the run from people seeking revenge for Christopher “Dudus” Coke’s 23-year sentence until a judge ordered he be returned to an ICE jail in Hudson County, New Jersey.

It remains unclear why ICE took Sean into custody in January for deportation after previously allowing him to live and work in the US.

Homeland Security attorney Shantal Sparks said Sean had been arrested in 2018, but had no further information.

She said his removal was “imminent.”

“This case is about so much more than his convictions; this case is about the fact that he cooperated, that his life is in danger, it’s in danger while he’s in Hudson County jail if somebody finds out who he is,” Relles said.

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