Articles by By SUZANNE CARLSON Daily News Staff

Technology

Judge to hear argument on ex-DSPR commissioner’s request for new trial

The judge overseeing Calvert White’s criminal case wants to hear more from White’s defense attorney about a pending request for a new trial. U.S. District Court Judge Mark Kearney entered an order Wednesday, scheduling a telephonic hearing for Nov. 6 after “finding questions warranting oral argument after studying Defendant White’s Motion for new trial.” The motion filed by defense attorney Clive Rivers was joined by White’s co-defendant, Benjamin Hendricks, who is being represented by attorney Darren John-Baptiste. White, the former commissioner of the V.I. Department of Sports, Parks, and Recreation, was found guilty by a jury on July 25 alongside Hendricks, a government contractor and owner of A Clean Environment maintenance company. Both men were convicted of honest services wire fraud and bribery, and were allowed to remain free pending sentencing, which is currently set for Jan. 22. In his motion for a new trial, Rivera argued that Kearney improperly answered a question from the jury: “Is it common knowledge that text messages, WhatsApp or phone calls when individuals in the U.S. Virgin Islands use networks, systems or servers outside the U.S. Virgin Islands and constitute a wire transaction in interstate commerce?” The judge explained to jurors that communication via telephone, internet, text messages, “or other similar means of communication qualifies as interstate wire communications under the act. That addresses — that’s the legal question posed at least by this statement. I cannot answer the fact question that’s raised here. That’s something you have to decide, not us.” According to Rivers, “Mr. White has met his burden for an acquittal, or a new trial because he has established that he would have been acquitted of honest services fraud had the jury not been instructed that all his on-island communications via texts and whatsapp should automatically count as interstate commerce. The evidence failed to support such a finding, but the judge gave a legal instruction that negated the need for the jury to find a crucial factual element of Count One.” In response, prosecutors argued that the claims “are without merit,” and the court “identified a potential point of confusion within the question and attempted to provide a legal standard to answer that question and clear up any uncertainty.” At trial, prosecutors introduced testimony from a FirstBank manager, Herbert Vega-Lopez, who explained that Hendricks received an electronic transmission in his account on Jan. 3, 2024, from another contractor named David Whitaker, which “would have to go through servers located in Puerto Rico.” Prosecutors also noted that the defense motion “only addresses the defendants’ convictions under Count One,” wire fraud — and does not address the bribery count.

Technology

Major power blackouts affect residents, businesses territory-wide

Major power blackouts have hit thousands of homes and businesses throughout the territory in recent days, as the V.I. Water and Power Authority prepares to publicly explain why the power grid remains so unreliable. WAPA representatives are scheduled to testify Wednesday when senators convene in the Committee of the Whole to hear an update “focusing on the series of outages that continue to plague the St. Thomas-St. John district. Additional topics will include the short-term and long-term plans to remedy the situation and improve reliability.” At a board meeting Thursday, WAPA CEO Karl Knight said the hearing “unfortunately has to do with what is being described as the rash of outages that we experienced in the month of September, that’s how the invitation viewed it.” Random blackouts hit the St. Thomas-St. John district throughout September. “We are going to be present to discuss the issues that we encountered, very specifically as to what the incidents were, what the causation was. Talk about the immediate improvements, or the remedy to those specific incidents, but then have a more general conversation about what is happening as far as operations,” Knight said Thursday. At the meeting, Knight also said the Authority is working to improve communications, using TikTok and other social media platforms to share information about operations. More major blackouts hit the St. Thomas-St. John district Friday, and St. Croix’s power grid failed Saturday. WAPA has released little information about the cause of the island-wide blackouts. And one of the few sources of real-time information, WAPA’s online outage map, also failed and as of Sunday night the website was still incorrectly showing that all 24,700 customers in the St. Thomas-St. John district were without power. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr., who campaigned on fixing WAPA, recently pledged to fix WAPA before the end of his term. Sen. Ray Fonseca recently called for a federal takeover of the utility, as many question whether Bryan will be able to bring tangible changes to WAPA in that short time span when he had years to do so. Meanwhile, WAPA board members voted Thursday to approve several infrastructure projects, including a $12.8 million contract with Haugland VI for the Feeder 9A underground project, which will move overhead electrical lines below ground. The project is funded through a 98% Federal Emergency Management Agency award, and the 2% local match is being provided by the Office of Disaster Recovery through the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant program. The Board also approved a $10 million increase and contract extension through June 2026 for Haugland VI’s disaster debris removal and disposal services. Arsenic-treated wooden utility poles were previously cut up and disposed of in the Bovoni Landfill on St. Thomas, which helped fuel a fire that burned for weeks in September 2023. Now, the poles are being shipped to Dubai for disposal as WAPA continues replacing wooden poles with composite poles. To date, 9,949 composite poles have been installed across the territory — 4,849 on St. Croix, 3,202 on St. Thomas, 1,711 on St. John, and 187 on Water Island. The WAPA board also voted to approve a negotiated insurance rate which lowered an initial 17.5% increase to 6%.

Technology

Police investigating homicide

V.I. Police are investigating after 49-year-old Hoedelair Germaine was shot to death in Estate Profit on St. Croix on Friday. The shooting occurred just before midnight at Bienvenido’s Bar, according to police. Officers responded to 911 calls and found the victim lying face down inside the bar, according to police. Emergency Medical Technicians responded and confirmed that Germaine did not have any signs of life. Police have released few details about the shooting, and did not say whether they’ve identified any possible witnesses or suspects in the case. The case is under investigation by the Major Crimes Unit.