US Marine Charged With Haiti Gun Smuggling

A U.S. Marine caught smuggling guns into Haiti told investigators he wanted to help the country’s military learn marksmanship and defeat “thugs” causing instability, according to a criminal complaint.

The criminal complaint filed last week in a North Carolina federal court charges Jacques Yves Duroseau with smuggling firearms. Prosecutors say Duroseau flew from North Carolina to Haiti with baggage including eight firearms but lacked needed authorization to take them abroad.

Duroseau, an active-duty U.S. Marine, and another unnamed person flew from an airport in New Bern, North Carolina, to Port Au Prince Haiti on Nov. 11, Veterans Day, with two plastic containers of firearms and a third with ammunition, according to the criminal complaint.

Duroseau had filled out a firearm declaration form with American Airlines stating he was carrying unloaded guns but didn’t have permission from the U.S. Marines to leave the country or permission from U.S. authorities to export firearms, according to the complaint signed by Homeland Security Special Agent Charles Kitchen.

Haitian authorities took Duroseau into custody and ultimately, he was questioned by U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents in that country.

The criminal complaint said he told the agents he had traveled there to “defeat the thugs that have been creating a little bit part of the instability in Haiti.” In describing the eight firearms, he told the agents he “picked every gun” to teach marksmanship to the Haitian Army, according to the complaint.

Authorities say he purchased at least some of the guns at stores in North Carolina and Virginia. Kitchen stated that Duroseau also brought body armor and an officer’s uniform with him. The complaint doesn’t state his rank.

The criminal complaint said the other person with Duroseau, who wasn’t identified, told agents Duroseau “was in contact with the U.S. Embassy in Haiti to tell them that he wanted to be President of Haiti.” The criminal complaint doesn’t list any charges against the second person.

The electronic court docket didn’t list a defense attorney who could speak on Duroseau’s behalf, and a spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office didn’t immediately return a message asking if he has a lawyer. The docket also lists a variation of his surname as Durosau, but the indictment refers to him as Duroseau throughout.

A federal magistrate judge issued an arrest warrant for Duroseau last week and asked the U.S. Marshal’s Office to serve it. The spokesman for the prosecutor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a question about whether Duroseau had returned to the U.S.

This story has been updated to clarify that charges were contained in a criminal complaint, rather than an indictment.