By By: Staff Writer
Monrovia, Liberia — The Liberian Senate’s inquiry into the US$19.2 million cocaine seizure at Roberts International Airport has refocused attention on how Michael U.S. Brown left Kakata Central Prison in September 2024, despite facing drug charges the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act of 2023 deems non-bailable first-degree felonies.
Court records show Brown was convicted that August by His Honor T. Clapha Carey of the 13th Judicial Circuit Court, Margibi County, for unlicensed importation of cannabis, and was also indicted under Case No. 043-2024 for unlicensed importation and transportation of controlled drugs, criminal conspiracy, and facilitation.
Court documents indicate bail was denied by statute, so the defense pursued a medical route. On August 19, 2024, the Office of Public Defenders filed a motion citing chest trauma and an alleged assault at arrest. The state opposed it, noting the offense was non-bailable and that no recognized hospital report confirmed an assault. Judge Carey heard the matter on August 27 but reserved ruling. Instead, a September 19, 2024 letter from Kakata Central Prison Superintendent Maj. Nelson P. Woah to Judge Carey cited a C.H. Rennie Hospital finding that Brown was “not medically fit” due to ribs broken in a Robertsfield Highway accident, and asked that family sign for him to seek treatment. The file contains conflicting accounts: the motion blamed LDEA officers, the letter cited an accident, and a GERLIB report attached to the motion traced chest pain to December 2023.
Brown’s release was executed through a “Statement of Guarantee” dated August 21, 2024, signed by Ms. Toshey Garnett, listed as fiancée, and Ms. Christin G. Cheeks, listed as sister. They pledged to produce him for court while he sought treatment, and to be jailed themselves if they failed. No written order granting the underlying bail motion appears in the record. A February 2025 Request for Assignment before Judge Golda A. Bonah Elliott sought to set the case for trial. The file also lists Brown’s name variably as Michael U.S. Browne, Samuel Browne, and Michael Brown.
The 2024 matter resurfaced after the June 8, 2026 seizure of 237.6kg of cocaine valued at roughly US$19.2 million at GLS-Menzies, RIA. President Joseph Nyuma Boakai created a Joint National Security Investigative Task Force, and about 10 persons of interest were named. At a July 1, 2026 Senate session prompted by Senators Edwin Melvin Snowe Jr. and Amara M. Konneh, task force officials said the probe had shifted from persons of interest to potential suspects. Senators also asked about Brown, the GLS-Menzies General Manager, and others.
The Senate is expected to examine whether the September 2024 medical release complied with the 2023 Act’s non-bailable provisions, and to clarify the roles and statements of the Task Force, the LNP leadership, and the Ministry of Justice. For now, the core issue in the documents is procedural: a defendant charged with non-bailable drug offenses left custody on a family guarantee, without a court ruling on the medical bail motion.
