Immigration compliance manager appears in dock

Jeannie Lewis

(CNS): Jeanine Lewis (57), who is currently suspended from her post as a senior member of the immigration department’s management team, appeared in the dock in Summary Court Tuesday to face charges relating to drug and immigration offences, but the case was adjourned until December. Lewis, who is the assistant chief immigration officer for regulation and compliance, is accused of assisting a man to illegally land and of allowing drugs to be dealt from her home. She made no comment as her defence attorney, Richard Barton, asked for papers from the crown.

Magistrate Valdis Foldats ordered the crown to serve its material on Lewis’s lawyer by 2 December, as he set the case to be mentioned and bailed her to return to court on 15 December.

Lewis has worked at the Department of Immigration since 1989 and was promoted to assistant chief immigration officer in 2009. When she was in the job she was responsible for monitoring and evaluation of all services and procedures. Before dealing with compliance, Lewis was assistant chief immigration officer of the Enforcement Unit.

Following her court appearance the Immigration Department released a statement confirming that Lewis remains on suspension from her management job. Acting Chief Immigration Officer Bruce Smith said Lewis was put on required leave immediately following her arrest. “It is vital that the facts are thoroughly established, as quickly as possible. As such, the Department of Immigration will continue to fully cooperate with the investigation and will provide assistance or information to the RCIPS as necessary in the public interest,” Smith said. “The Department’s focus is one of service to the public, and we will continue to deliver on our mission of contributing to the security, stability and prosperity of the Cayman Islands.”

She was arrested in August following an early morning raid at a house in Savannah, where police seized a loaded firearm and drugs. A 30-year-old man who was arrested for illegally landing was convicted and served 30 days before he was deported last month. A 22-year-old man has also been charged in connection with the illegal gun.

The police operation was connected to another investigation into a shooting at a house in Omega Drive a few days before.