The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE 

Tribune Chief Reporter 

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A COLOMBIAN drug dealer accused of working with “multiple corrupt RBPF officials” to smuggle tonnes of cocaine through The Bahamas into the United States is set to change his plea, months before a high-profile trial involving former Chief Superintendent Elvis Nathaniel Curtis and Jonathan ‘Player’ Gardiner is due to begin.

Lorielmo Steele-Pomare, also known as “Steele”, will appear at a change-of-plea hearing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on November 5 at 11am. In a new filing, US Attorney Jonathan Bodansky asked the court to schedule the hearing on any date between November 2 and 5, and the request was granted.

In the US federal system, a change-of-plea hearing is where a defendant who has denied the charges can formally plead guilty, usually under an agreement with prosecutors.

If Steele-Pomare admits the charge, he will be only the second of the 13 people named in the 2024 indictment to do so. The first was former Royal Bahamas Defence Force Chief Petty Officer Darrin Alexander Roker, who pleaded guilty to cocaine importation conspiracy and was sentenced to four years in prison.

In February, prosecutors told the court that negotiations were continuing over a possible plea deal to resolve the case before trial.

The indictment describes Steele-Pomare as a ‘narcotics broker’ who introduces Colombian and Bahamian drug traffickers so they can work together to distribute cocaine to the US. He is accused of coordinating shipments by air and sea, working closely with corrupt police officers, and carrying drug proceeds, typically by air, to and from The Bahamas.

The cocaine importation conspiracy charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison and a maximum of life. Roker avoided the minimum by pleading to a lesser offence, his lawyer said at the time.

Among the other defendants are Curtis, former RBPF Sergeant Prince Albert Symonette, another Bahamian, William Simeon, and Gardiner.

Curtis, who headed the RBPF’s Airport Division, and Symonette are accused of each accepting about $10,000 in October 2023 as a down payment for helping a 600kg cocaine shipment pass through Lynden Pindling International Airport. They allegedly offered armed protection and firearms for drug shipments passing through The Bahamas. The indictment also alleges that Curtis claimed a high-ranking Bahamian politician would facilitate the movement of drugs in exchange for $2m.

According to a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) affidavit, undercover agents posing as members of an international drug trafficking organisation met the defendants several times, and many of the meetings were recorded.

Gardiner, a convicted drug smuggler who was arrested after surviving an Election Day plane crash, is accused of taking part in the conspiracy between May 2021 and May 2026. He faces cocaine conspiracy and firearms charges in New York and has pleaded not guilty. He faces similar charges in a separate prosecution in Georgia.

Separate US court filings allege that an unidentified senior Bahamian politician met an undercover DEA source inside a Parliament building in October 2024 to discuss a proposed $30m cocaine shipment. US authorities say it is the same politician whose name was handwritten on an envelope of cash found with Gardiner on the day of the crash.

Gardiner has since sought dismissal of the charges, arguing that delays in bringing the case have prejudiced his defence. He has also asked for the $30,000 seized during his arrest to be returned.

Gardiner and the other defendants who have not pleaded guilty are due to stand trial on March 1, 2027, before US District Judge Lewis J Liman, who was recently assigned the case.