Jocelyn Dor, 31, a Haitian citizen residing in Orlando, Florida, was sentenced Wednesday, February 28, 2024, to 60 months in prison for participating in a very sophisticated smuggling scheme that allowed the export or attempted export at least 24 firearms from the United States to Haiti, as well as hundreds of ammunition, informed the United States Embassy in Haiti in a press release released the same day.
Dor had pleaded guilty on October 30, 2023, to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, violation of the Export Control Reform Act, and money laundering to promote a specific illegal activity. According to the statement, Dor acted as a straw buyer (secret agent) for 400 Mawozo.
“From September 18, 2021 to October 17, 2021, he purchased 10 high-powered semi-automatic rifles from Orlando area gun stores, at the direction of Germine, for the express purpose of shipping these weapons to the gang’s leaders 400 Mawozo in Haiti. Rifles were intended for combat. One of the weapons, a 50 caliber Barrett rifle, is primarily used by the military against heavy machinery. Dor falsely represented to gun sellers that he was the “real purchaser” of the guns. He also received multiple transfers of thousands of US dollars from his accomplices to ensure payment,” the document reads.
The American Embassy in Port-au-Prince specifies that, in addition to the prison sentence, Judge John D. Bates of the United States District Court sentenced Dor to three years of parole .
According to the American body, the FBI attempted to arrest Dor on October 31, 2021, but was unable to find either Dor or the high-powered rifles. The 31-year-old man stopped using his cell phones, showing that he was aware that the police were pursuing him, the Embassy maintains. The search extended to the Midwest where Dor was nearly captured at a truck stop. On November 5, 2021, Dor rented storage space in Orlando. On November 8, 2021, he asked his lawyer to contact the FBI in order to surrender. The FBI arrested Dor the same day and recovered the weapons from the warehouse in Orlando. He has been in detention since his arrest.
The court recalls that Dor was initially charged in an indictment dating from May 2022 which named co-defendants Joly Germine, also known as Yonyon, (31 years old), a Haitian national, and Eliande Tunis, (45 years old), an American citizen from Pompano Beach, Florida.
Germine was the “king” of the 400 Mawozo gang and ran operations from a Haitian prison using uncontrolled cell phones. Currently detained in the United States, Germine pleaded guilty on January 31 to his role in the arms trafficking conspiracy that allowed firearms to be shipped to Haiti in violation of U.S. export laws, as well as to the laundering of ransoms paid for the gang’s American hostages in 2021. Germine faces a maximum sentence of life in prison when he is sentenced on May 15, recalls the American document.
For her part, Tunis, Germine’s former partner, pleaded guilty on the eve of the trial, on January 17. Tunis, who presented herself as the “queen” of the 400 Mawozo gang, also faces a maximum prison sentence when she is sentenced on May 8. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Recall that in October 2021, the 400 Mawozo gang claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of 16 American citizens, including five children, and a Canadian citizen who were part of a missionary organization visiting an orphanage in Port-au-Prince. The gang demanded a $1 million ransom for each hostage. The hostages escaped around December 16, 2021. Earlier this year, in June, the gang took two American citizens hostage and only released them after receiving a $25,000 ransom. In August 2023, the gang took another American citizen hostage and released her after receiving $50,000.
