A joint investigation by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which resulted in the double conviction of an American man who molested a child here, must serve as a warning to criminals committing transnational crimes, local cop Carl Berry has said.

Berry, a deputy superintendent of police, said while criminals rationalise and weigh the pros and cons before an illicit act, they will think twice knowing that crimes committed beyond a country’s borders will be prosecuted.

“The likelihood of getting a conviction in one jurisdiction and then to be convicted in another jurisdiction is high; that’s weighted against them. And the sentencing, putting yourself in that situation where you are now on a sex offender register for the rest of your life, is significant, so that will send messages. And the fact that the media is helping us to amplify the message will at least connect with some of those criminals,” Berry said during an interview with the Jamaica Observer at its Beechwood Avenue office in Kingston yesterday.

He was backed up by United States of America country attaché for Jamaica Dextan Dixon, who also said the nine-and-a-half year sentencing of Douglas Peacock should be enough to deter criminals.

“…Not only are we putting this individual on a lifetime sex offender registry, but also we are impacting his pocket with restitution to the victim,” Dixon said.

Peacock was arrested in Jamaica when a “concerned US citizen” contacted the US Embassy after observing him with a minor.

Investigation between the JCF and the ICE revealed that the 44-year-old man from Foster City in California had been sexually assaulting a six-year-old American girl at a hotel in Montego Bay.

He was sentenced to six months in Jamaica before being deported to America to serve additional time.

The US Attorney’s Office said Peacock arrived in Jamaica on June 20, 2017, and on the following day molested the child in the pool of a family friendly resort.

“Chief among what happened was the collaboration. We quickly made contact with the ICE agents in Kingston and ICE in the US,” Berry explained. “What came as a result of that is that we were able to, as the JCF, convict the individual locally. The person was convicted in relation to a minor and that person was given a sentence. After that, ICE took over and we were able to arrive at the position where the person was also convicted in the US [and given] a significant sentence.”

A federal grand jury indicted Peacock on November 2, 2017 in the US, charging him with one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place. He pleaded guilty in April.

In addition to sentencing him to nine years in prison, he was ordered to serve a 10-year period of supervised release.