Orville Andrew Pernell, 33, a Jamaican national who escaped custody in Saint Lucia where he was wanted for murder, was sentenced to federal prison in the United States on Tuesday.
He was convicted of possessing a firearm while being in the country illegally. District Judge Tiffany R. Johnson gave Pernell a 33-month prison sentence.
After he completes his sentence, Pernell is expected to face extradition to Saint Lucia.
In a statement dated May 19, US Attorney Theodore S. Hertberg said: “After he was charged with murder, Pernell escaped custody twice in the Caribbean, entered the United States under a different identity, and then repeatedly endangered our community through his possession of stolen and high-powered firearms.”
Just over a year ago, on April 17, 2025, St. Lucia Times reported that local law enforcement was working with US authorities to extradite the Jamaican national wanted for murder in Saint Lucia.
At that time, Pernell had been arrested in Savannah, Georgia, by ICE Homeland Security investigators and ATF special agents.
On December 1, 2021, while waiting to be extradited to Saint Lucia from Jamaica, Pernell escaped from the Central Police lock-up. He had been accused of killing Cleus Alfred of Trouya, Gros Islet. Alfred’s body was found on August 25, 2020, after residents heard gunshots. Pernell was charged with the crime on October 8, 2020.
Pernell was first held at the Babonneau Police Station. He allegedly used a sharp tool to cut through steel bars and escaped from a cell with three other detainees. After fleeing to Jamaica, he was caught again on July 14, 2021, by the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Fugitive Apprehension Team, but escaped again a few months later.
US Border Patrol first encountered Pernell on December 7, 2022, near San Ysidro, California, when he tried to enter the country using the name “Oneil Christopher Reid.” He was allowed into the United States while immigration proceedings continued.
Pernell was released on parole but was arrested again in July 2023 for having a stolen motorcycle, a stolen 9mm handgun, and for evading police.
He was charged with speeding, fleeing, driving without a licence, and receiving stolen property. He posted bail and was released from custody in less than two months.
He was arrested again on April 4, 2025. At the same time, agents searched his home in Hinesville, Georgia, and found another stolen handgun and an assault rifle with a loaded high-capacity magazine.
On February 11, 2026, Pernell pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as an illegal alien.
US authorities said that while in federal custody, Pernell repeatedly damaged the walls of his cell at a pretrial detention facility, apparently trying to escape.
On Tuesday, May 19, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ryan Todd of the ATF Atlanta division said, “This case highlights ATF’s critical role in tracing illegal firearms, disrupting trafficking networks, and ensuring dangerous offenders are removed from our communities. “
“No one who flees justice abroad and threatens public safety in the United States will escape accountability,” added Steven N. Schrank, the Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia and Alabama.
“Through the coordinated efforts of HSI and our partners, Pernell has been apprehended, convicted, and when his sentence concludes, will be returned to face murder charges in Saint Lucia.”
I hope St. Lucia can handle this career murderer and beast after his release for US custody – Orville Andrew Pernell, 33, a Jamaican. He will need to be housed in a fifty inch thick metal barracks by himself with a two inch parameter four inch window. You guys in St. Lucia do not have the means to deal with this character for real. Remember he had already escaped from St. Lucia. Godspeed
I can’t imagine this guy being locked up for a prolonged period in St Lucia. First of all, he would he need to be placed in isolation. With his history and attitude, he would have to be broken like a horse. He is a monster and St. Lucians are likely to get hurt. He will escape from here again. Bet on it.
There is a relatively easy way to deal with serial escapees, just leave the cell open and then deal with him appropriately when he tries to flee! Remember the Barbadian national Alfred Harding, some years ago, jumping from building to building in downtown Castries, like Tarzan in the forest, what happened to him?
That man well cooked. He gonna get his in the prison in the US. Hopefully lucia won’t have to deal with that rubbish of a man. He gonna be someone’s biatch!
Does it matter at all what the police does, the judge will grant bail and or, give a lenient sentence.
Can someone please tell me why St. Lucia would want this criminal extradited to St. Lucia. Can St. Lucia afford to house such a criminal?He has escaped from St. Lucia cells before so what assurance is there that he may not do the Houdini again. The man is a career criminal; why no let the US deport him back to his home country. He is Jamaican, isn’t he? Let Jamaica deal with that problem. Case closed!
The fact that he has escaped twice and was able to get to the US needs someone to explain how did this happen because he would have enablers helping him along the way. How does he make it pass all these security measures, at the jail and at the airports also. How did this happen? Is he the most luckiest guy in the world or he is so well connected that he can bypass the law with such confidence that’s he’d head to the USA a country that is a hot bed for immigrants especially folks holding visas from countries in the Caribbean on the list. St Lucia is clearly not capable of holding him because if he escaped the first time what makes you think he won’t attempt to do so the second time and be successful this time disappearing into a country where he will be hard to find.