Man charged with taking boat, sneaking into U.S.

BANGOR – A man from Bermuda with a British passport was arrested on Monday afternoon in Robbinston after he allegedly stole a small boat from a wharf in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, to cross the St. Croix River.

Jeremy Gene Whitecross, 30, appeared on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bangor and was charged with entering the U.S. after being refused entry at the Calais border crossing.

If convicted, he faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Whitecross is being held at the Penobscot County Jail pending the resolution of his case. He is expected to be deported when he has completed any sentence imposed if he is convicted.

U.S. Border Patrol agents began searching for Whitecross about 2:45 p.m. Monday after they received a call from the St. Stephen, New Brunswick, office of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, according to court documents.

The RCMP reported that it had received information that a dark-skinned male wearing a white shirt with a black backpack had stolen a small boat with an outboard motor from a wharf in St. Andrews. The boat reportedly made landfall near an abandoned sardine cannery in Robbinston.

Border patrol agents found Whitecross lying in some tall weeds in a ditch on Route 1 in Robbinston, according to court documents. They found the boat abandoned on the riverbank near the cannery.

Whitecross was refused entry on Sunday at the Calais border crossing because a criminal background check showed convictions in Bermuda in 1998 for fraud, check forgery and stealing two motorcycles and a car.

People with criminal records can be denied entry.