Cayman Court Sentences Couple To Nine Years & Six Months For Money Laundering & Importation Of Fentanyl & Ganja Delivered In A Package From California
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By Alric Lindsay
Renae Hamilton and Dorman Dowaine Salmon appeared in the Grand Court on October 24, 2024, to be sentenced for money laundering and fentanyl and ganja importation. They each received a total of 9 years, 6 months imprisonment from the Honourable Justice Peters.
Detailed background
According to the Honourable Justice Peters, on April 3, 2025, Hamilton and Salmon were convicted after a jury trial of one count of being concerned in the importation of fentanyl and one count of being concerned in a money laundering arrangement.
Following those guilty verdicts, the summary offence of being concerned in the importation of ganja, admitted to the Grand Court, a trial pursuant to Section 88 of the Criminal Procedure Code was put to Hamilton and Salmon. Both pleaded guilty. Hamilton and Salmon appeared in the Grand Court to be sentenced for these three charges.
The Honourable Justice Peters described Hamilton and Salmon as partners in both senses of the word. They were in a relationship together that, at the time of the offending, had already borne one child, and by the time of the trial, they had had a second child together.
Reading the judgment, the Honourable Justice Peters said:
On their own evidence, they had lived together for several years.
As is clear from the jury’s verdict, they were also running a drugs business together. That business, as evidenced by the significant quantity of telephone evidence adduced before the jury at trial, was of them both in an apparently equal way, running a drugs business where they principally supplied ganja to users. Users could message them directly and be supplied directly by them. That telephone evidence was presented to the jury to enable them [to] decide on the issue of whether the money that was the subject of Count 2 was criminal property, and also to see the history of the manner in which the April 2022 package was imported.
As a result of this business, they amassed criminal property, which they then money laundered by sending it overseas, either to the USA or to Jamaica, usually using third parties, giving a false story as to why the defendants themselves were unable to undertake a money transfer at any particular time. And that money laundering was the subject of Count 2, which spanned a large number of transactions over a period from January 2021 until May 2022.
In April of 2022, a package that had originated in California arrived in Grand Cayman. It was addressed to Salmon. It contained, inter alia, 5.22 grams of fentanyl, a controlled hard drug, in the form of 51 fentanyl tablets.
The Honourable Justice Peters stated that Hamilton and Salmon had photographs of the contents of the package on their phones before it arrived from California.
She added:
A controlled delivery was conducted of the package, which by then had been discovered by CBC to contain both ganja and fentanyl.
It was collected by Hamilton. She completed the paperwork and was assisted with the package into her car. When thereafter confronted, she ran, was chased and was arrested.
The importation of that package was the subject of count one in respect to the fentanyl and the summary count in respect to the ganja.
Regarding the fentanyl sentence, the Honourable Justice Peters noted that the prosecution submitted that the maximum sentence for importing less than two ounces of fentanyl is 25 years’ imprisonment.
After considering submissions from prosecution and defence counsels and considering relevant sentencing guidelines, the Honourable Justice Peters sentenced Salmon and Hamilton as follows:
**Count one (importation of fentanyl): eight years imprisonment.
**Count two (money laundering): consecutive term of one year and six months imprisonment.
**Count three (ganja): concurrent term of 12 years imprisonment
Any time in custody will be taken into account regarding the above sentences.
Note to readers
It should be noted that the Honourable Justice Peters considered the prosecution’s submission that when considering the appropriate sentence for money laundering, the court should take into account the impact (particularly when it involves the use of financial institutions, such as money transfer firms) on the Cayman Islands as an international financial centre, as well as the reputational damage and loss of public confidence that ultimately results.
Regarding fentanyl importation, Cayman had one previous case; however, it was fumbled by the authorities. See the link below for the story.
