Merren could face 10+ years

(CNS): Bryce Merren is facing more than a decade in an American jail if he is found guilty of the drug conspiracy and money laundering charges that US law enforcement agencies have filed against him, according to the latest court documents. An order signed by US magistrate Camille Velez-Rive, who refused the 47 year old Caymanian bail on Tuesday, indicates that the maximum penalty for this offence is over ten years and Merren was a flight risk who may also “endanger the safety of another person or the community.” Merren was also remanded on the basis that so far no rebuttal to the charges has been made, despite what the judge said in a court order was “clear and convincing evidence”.

The recent revelations that Merren may have been caught up in a conspiracy to traffic more than 3000 kilos of cocaine and to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars have shocked the local community and are understood to have triggered an investigation in Cayman by US officials.

Merren is accused of wiring $200,000 from a Cayman bank to an account in Puerto Rico which was set up by an undercover US agent acting as a drug dealer, to pay for the first shipment of a proposed cocaine deal.

He is currently being detained in the Guaynabo jail in Puerto Rico and is next appearance is expected to be before a grand jury to test the evidence against him.