Accountability Record

As VIPD Commissioner, Martinez accepted bribes from government contractor David Whitaker in exchange for using his official position to benefit Whitaker's business. The scheme ran from at least November 2022. Martinez and OMB Director Jenifer O'Neal were tried together and convicted on all counts following a one-week jury trial.

As OMB Director, O'Neal approved and advanced inflated invoices connected to government contracts funded by federal COVID-19 relief money while receiving personal benefits from contractor David Whitaker. She joined the bribery scheme no later than January 2024. Convicted alongside VIPD Commissioner Ray Martinez following a one-week jury trial.

As VIHFA COO, Richardson sat on the evaluation committee for a contract to manage hurricane disaster recovery lumber, then solicited and received a $107,000 payment from that contractor's owner. He also obtained a $185,000 construction loan from Banco Popular using fraudulent estimates, then diverted loan proceeds to purchase unrelated property the bank had no knowledge of. Convicted on all 5 counts following 8 days of trial.

White, as Commissioner of Sports Parks and Recreation, solicited and accepted bribes from government contractor David Whitaker — the same contractor at the center of the Martinez/O'Neal case — through co-conspirator Benjamin Hendricks as intermediary. In exchange for the bribes, White agreed to help Whitaker obtain a $1.6 million SP&R contract. The scheme ran from December 2023 to June 2024. Both White and Hendricks were convicted following a four-day jury trial.

Chesterfield was a security officer at the Office of the Governor when he was recruited in 2011 into a large-scale cocaine trafficking operation. He used his law enforcement credentials and security clearance to bypass airport screening at Cyril E. King Airport, smuggling kilogram quantities of cocaine from St. Thomas to Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Over the course of the conspiracy — which ran through 2016, spanning both the de Jongh and Mapp administrations — he smuggled more than 200 kilograms of cocaine for the organization. He was arrested at the airport on September 3, 2016, when a co-conspirator tipped off CBP agents, who seized 22 kilograms of cocaine from his carry-on bag. When stopped by federal agents, Chesterfield falsely claimed he was on an official assignment for Governor Mapp.

In August 2018, Defreitas assisted with a DLCA inspection of a St. Thomas business and discovered that one of the company's workers had undocumented immigration status. Rather than report this through official channels, Defreitas attempted to use the information as leverage against the victim — soliciting sexual favors in exchange for not reporting the worker's status. The victim recorded a phone call in which Defreitas made the solicitation, and that recording was played for the jury at trial.

While serving as a senator, Williams ran a criminal enterprise through his legislative office. He solicited and received bribes from St. Thomas construction project developers, using his influence as senator to promote their projects in return for campaign contributions deposited into a personal bank account. He also fraudulently increased legislative staffers' salaries so the excess money could be redirected to him personally, and had government employees complete his online University of Phoenix coursework on taxpayer time. Originally indicted on nine counts; pled guilty to one count of racketeering. Two legislative staffers — Kim Blackett and Garry Sprauve — also pled guilty to related charges.

As Executive Director of the Legislature between 2009 and 2012, Willis oversaw the major renovation of the Legislature building and was responsible for awarding contracts. He accepted bribes from contractors and extorted money from others as a condition of receiving government work. Convicted on all four counts following a three-day jury trial.

From April 2009, while serving as senator, James submitted fraudulent requests to the Legislature for funds ostensibly to pay for research and translation of historical documents at the Danish National Archives related to the Fireburn revolt. He initially used some money for the research, then began fabricating invoices entirely. By 2010 he was simply stealing the money — causing the Legislature to pay him over $90,000, approximately $70,000 of which he kept personally, using it to pay his re-election campaign expenses and personal bills after his legislative salary was garnished. James was indicted in October 2015, arrested in Modena, Italy in June 2016, and extradited to face trial.

From 2000 through 2009, Edwards and Brooks — while serving as VIPD officers — ran a criminal enterprise that repeatedly extorted drug traffickers, demanding cash payments as a condition of non-arrest. They also sold a Virgin Islands driver's license for $900 and forcibly detained a person in a police vehicle until cash was paid for release. A co-defendant, Virgin Islands Port Authority Officer Bill John-Baptiste, was convicted of kidnapping for arresting a person who was then released after Edwards and Brooks received a $500 bribe. Edwards was additionally convicted of structuring currency transactions.

The most senior figure in a $1.4 million bribery and kickback scheme that ran from early 2000 through 2004. Plaskett authorized government contracts worth more than $1 million to Elite Technical Services — a sham company formed by co-conspirators — in exchange for kickbacks. Little or no actual work was performed on the contracts. When the scheme became the subject of a joint federal and local investigation in 2004, Plaskett led a second scheme to obstruct justice, including creating backdated false documents to cover up the fraud. A 2005 Daily News investigative series first publicly exposed the scheme.

Biggs authorized contracts on behalf of DPNR and received cash kickbacks from the Elite Technical Services scheme alongside Commissioner Plaskett. Specific bribery connected to a $650,000 Coastal Zone Management contract in January 2003. Convicted at the same trial as Plaskett. The two commissioners split illicit proceeds with co-conspirators.

Griffin was a co-founder of Elite Technical Services — the sham company at the center of the $1.4 million bribery scheme — and helped recruit others into the conspiracy. He pled guilty and became a cooperating witness against Commissioners Plaskett and Biggs at trial, providing detailed testimony about how the scheme operated, including meetings in Plaskett's office and incidents during which Plaskett pulled a knife on him when the scheme was in danger of unraveling.

Blyden received kickbacks as part of the Elite Technical Services scheme and, when it became subject to federal and local investigation, participated in creating backdated false documents to conceal the fraud. He made materially false statements to federal investigators. One of four officials who pled guilty as part of the investigation, alongside Griffin, Earl Brewley, and Atlanta businessman Esmond Modeste. Also banned from government employment for five years following sentencing.