A St George’s man has been sentenced to seven years behind bars for his role in a plot to bring firearms and ammunition into Bermuda.

Ryan Resendes told the court that he deeply regretted his actions, stating that his involvement came out of an attempt to help a friend, but he soon found himself trapped in the situation and unable to get out.

He said: “I made a bad judgment call. It’s a decision I will have to live with for the rest of my life.”

Delivering his sentence, Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe noted Resendes’s expressions of remorse and early guilty plea, urging him to take the time and get support from the programmes and courses that will be available to him.

He added: “Let’s hope that when you are up at Westgate, thinking about what has taken place, hearing the boats go across Westgate during the Round the Island boat race, you will be able to reflect and say to yourself that none of this was worth it.”

Resendes pleaded guilty this year to charges that he conspired with others to supply firearms and ammunition, along with charges that he handled firearms.

All the offences were linked to an importation that took place in November 2023.

The court previously heard that he, along with co-accused Jonathan Mello, had collected multiple bags and a black bucket from a sailboat near Town Cut at about midnight on November 13, 2023, and taking the items to Dolly’s Bay, St David’s, by boat.

They were later seen travelling in a white truck out of St David’s, seconds behind a police car driven by Jonathan McAlpine-Talbot, who was a police sergeant at the time.

All three met at Tucker’s Town public dock before Resendes and Mello returned to St David’s and then drove to a boat garage in St George’s owned by Resendes’s family.

CCTV footage from the garage showed Resendes and Mello bring a black bucket from the truck to the garage and remove several heat-sealed bags containing firearms.

Footage from the following day showed Resendes appearing to clean several of the firearms.

He was arrested at the garage on December 2, 2023, and a search of the property revealed two firearms, several magazines and 131 rounds of ammunition in a black bucket near the tree line.

Mello pleaded guilty on September 16 to three counts of possession of a prohibited weapon, two counts of possessing a controlled drug with intent to supply, one count of possessing ammunition and one count of possessing drug equipment.

McAlpine-Talbot was convicted last week by a jury of conspiring to import and supply drugs.

Two others were also convicted in connection with the plot.

Jose Puga admitted conspiring to import controlled drugs, ammunition and a firearm, while Ezekiel Swan was found guilty of conspiring to import drugs, ammunition and a firearm, along with conspiring to supply drugs.

Cindy Clarke, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said that in all of the circumstances of the case, including Resendes’s early guilty plea and lack of previous convictions, a sentence of seven years would be appropriate.

Marc Daniels, for Resendes, agreed, noting that in the time since the plot his client has become a father, and his sentence would cost him valuable time with his daughter.

He added: “He accepts full responsibility for his actions and the decisions that he made, but they were borne out of a desire to help a friend, not fully appreciating all that had transpired.”

Resendes told the court that he always tried to help others, and on the day the importation took place he had agreed to help a long-term friend and only learnt of the firearms after he was already involved.

He said: “I felt like I couldn’t say no.”

Resendes admitted that he agreed to let the firearms remain at the garage overnight, then agreed to help clean several of them the next day.

He said that he was later told the items had been removed from his property, stating: “To my knowledge, he had got them out of there.”

Resendes said his actions meant he would miss out on “precious years” of his daughter’s life and had hurt his family.

He added: “My father told me today that he wanted more for me, and that hurt. That hurt.”

Mr Justice Wolffe sentenced Resendes to seven years behind bars for each of the three offences, ordering that the sentences run concurrently.

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