Haitian Fugitive on Most Wanted List, Nabbed in Massachusetts

On March 25, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency said officers from its Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston arrested one of ICE’s Top 10 Most Wanted in the United States—a previously removed immigration fugitive citizen of Haiti who had been convicted on multiple counts of narcotics possession and trafficking.

ICE said Friendly Grandoit, 42, was charged, in U.S. federal court here, with illegal reentry into the United States.

Grandoit was arrested on March 19, 2021, charged with one count of illegal re-entry into the United States after deportation. He was detained following an initial appearance before US District Court Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler.

According to charging documents, in 2005, Grandoit was encountered in pre-trial detention by immigration officials while pending trial on drug distribution charges in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. He was convicted in September 2006 of trafficking in a controlled substance and sentenced to three years in prison.

On completion of his sentence, ICE said Grandoit was placed into removal proceedings and deported to Haiti in July 2008, but “Sometime after his removal, Grandoit illegally reentered the United States.”

In September 2019, ICE said Grandoit was arrested and charged in Woburn District Court in Massachusetts with the distribution of cocaine, identity fraud and operating with a suspended license, and was detained.

In April 2020,  Grandoit posted bail and was released from custody, however, ICE  which had filed a detainer with the jail, was not notified.

On March 19, ICE said Grandoit was arrested in connection with this case.

The charge of illegal reentry provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of US$250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.