St. Croix Woman Sentenced to 30 Months in Federal Prison for Possessing Machine Gun with Obliterated Serial Number

ST. CROIX — A 29-year-old resident of St. Croix has been sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison after pleading guilty to unlawfully possessing a machine gun, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of the Virgin Islands announced Tuesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Wilma A. Lewis sentenced Shabukah Bannis on Friday, June 20, to 30 months of incarceration in connection with a firearm recovered during a November 30, 2023 traffic stop conducted by the Virgin Islands Police Department.

According to court documents, officers with the VIPD stopped Bannis’s vehicle and detected the odor of marijuana. Upon questioning, Bannis admitted that marijuana was inside the car. A subsequent search uncovered marijuana and a loaded machine gun concealed under the driver’s seat. The firearm had an obliterated serial number, making it untraceable.

During sentencing, Judge Lewis stressed the severity of the offense and its implications for public safety. She stressed that the court's message must be “loud, clear, and unmistakable—the possession of these types of weapons of war cannot and will not be tolerated in this community."