The executive committee of the Joint Task Force on Public Corruption is looking outside the territory in order to quickly fill the key prosecutor's position left vacant by the resignation this week of Boyd Sprehn. Representatives from Justice and the V.I. Inspector General's Office serve on the committee, which met Friday afternoon.
V.I. Inspector General Steven van Beverhoudt said he was encouraged by the committee's resolve to move quickly on finding a new candidate.
Recruiting a mainland attorney would minimize possible conflicts of interest on future cases, according to committee members.
"Boyd is going to be giving us a full update on all the cases that are pending," van Beverhoudt said. Assistant Attorney General Winston Chen, director of Justice's White Collar Crime Unit, will monitor those that already have gone to court.
Attorney General Iver Stridiron said Thursday that Sprehn resigned because the government was slow in paying him on his $75,000 contract. The contract is federally funded.
Friday van Beverhoudt said another problem was that Sprehn, who is from the U.S. mainland, was not a member of the Virgin Islands Bar Association and so not admitted to practice in the territory. Attorneys who move to the Virgin Islands to work for Justice or some other local government agencies do not have to belong to the bar, but the exemption does not extend to lawyers on contract.
For that reason, van Beverhoudt said, the task force will try to get Sprehn's replacement on the government payroll rather than on contract.
