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Friday, March 29, 2024
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CORRUPTION ARRAIGNMENTS COULD BE NEXT WEEK

The head of the V.I. Justice Department's White Collar Crime Unit said Wednesday he expects former Gov. Roy Schneider and three of his top officials to be arraigned next week in Territorial Court.
Doug Sprotte said he hoped all four defendants in the public corruption case filed Tuesday by Attorney General Iver Stridiron would be arraigned at the same time next Thursday. At that time the defendants will be advised of their rights and allowed to enter pleas to the 14 counts of fraud, conspiracy and falsification of records filed against them.
Schneider is expected to hold a press conference today to discuss the charges.
The government's case, announced in a press conference Tuesday, centers around payment of more than $36,000 to Frenchman's Reef for a room registered to then-essential government employee Jean P. Greaux Jr. but actually occupied by Walter Brunner, a friend of Schneider who had contracts with several V.I. government agencies.
Sprotte said no charges were lodged against Brunner because "we can't prove he did anything wrong."
Brunner was "definitely a beneficiary," Sprotte said, but there is no evidence that Brunner conspired to cover up any wrongdoing or was involved in it.
Schneider was charged with eight counts of fraud, one count of conspiracy and four counts of false certificate.
Alvin Battiste, former director of budget and financial management for Schneider, was charged with eight counts of fraud, four counts of false certificate and one count of conspiracy. Gov. Charles W. Turnbull removed Battiste as a certifying officer at Government House on Wednesday and reassigned him to the Public Works Department.
Maureen Bryan, Schneider's executive assistant, was charged with one count of conspiracy, two counts of fraud and one count of false certificate.
Dean Wallace, acting commissioner of Finance at the end of the Schneider administration, was charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of falsification of public accounts and one count of falsification of certificates.
Sprotte said each count of fraud carries a penalty of two years in prison and a $500 fine. Embezzlement or falsification of public accounts carries a five-year sentence and a $2000 fine. Conspiracy carries a five-year sentence and a $2,000 fine. And each count of false certificate carries a two-year sentence and a $500 fine.

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