Mapp Sent His Personal Security Guards To Attorney’s Home Late At Night To Deliver Termination Letter, Lee Rohn Says

ST. CROIX — Governor Kenneth Mapp sent his personal security guards to the home of LaVerne Mills-Williams late at night to hand-deliver a letter of termination, Attorney Lee Rohn, who is representing Mrs. Mills-Williams in a suit against the administration for wrongful discharge, told The Consortium today. Mrs. Mills-Williams, already asleep, was awaken by a pounding sound coming from her front door.

Ms. Rohn reached out to The Consortium via email (she used a verified account through her practice’s website), stating that she was “amazed” by Mr. Mapp’s defamation of her character and that of her client.

“I was amazed by Mapp’s defamatory attack on myself and my client. His actions are illegal retaliation for my client’s whistle-blower activities,” Ms. Rohn wrote. “He also sent his personal security guards to my client’s house that night to pound on her door and awaken her to hand-deliver her termination letter.”

“Mrs. Mills-Williams never worked on any criminal cases,” Ms. Rohn revealed, dismantling the governor’s charge that Mrs. Mills-Williams’ access and “potential influence to ongoing criminal investigations and evidence” would compromise ongoing cases.

“Further, I am a nationally renowned, fully licensed attorney. I am the winner of the Marie Lambert Award as the leading female attorney of the year. The actions of Mapp and his false allegations are clearly part of his history of pettiness and vindictiveness,” Ms. Rohn charged.

In a press release issued late Friday, Mr. Mapp revealed that he’d ordered Acting Attorney General Claude Walker to terminate the employment of Mrs. Mills-Williams, who was hired by Mr. Mapp to work at Government House through the recommendation of the administration’s Chief Legal Counsel, Emile Henderson III. While there, she served as assistant attorney general to the Attorney General of the Virgin Islands.

According to the governor, Mrs. Mills-Williams was fired because she aligned herself with Ms. Rohn who, according to Mr. Mapp, is a “convicted criminal known for consorting with persons who have been convicted on more than one occasion of trafficking in, distributing and using narcotics and other illegal substances in and through the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

But Mr. Mapp, according to Ms. Rohn, is being hypocritical if indeed his reason for firing Mrs. Mills-Williams was because of her alleged unholy alliance, as he stated. She said when St. Croix native Gary Thomas was found guilty of conspiracy to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute, Mr. Mapp wrote a letter to the judge speaking of Mr. Thomas’ good character. Mr. Thomas, along with Kirk Tangyuk and Felix Parrilla, were ordered to pay, jointly and separately, $1.4 million as a forfeiture. Mr. Thomas was sentenced to 18 years in prison while Mr. Tangyuk and Mr. Parrilla were sentenced to 25 years and 151 months respectively.

The tension between the governor and Mrs. Mills-Williams amplified when Mrs. Mills-Williams filed suit against the administration, after a fallout over the governor’s credit card spending habits. Ostensibly, Mr. Mapp wanted to see and possibly block certain expenses from the public’s view — in violation of the Freedom of Information Act — but Mrs. Mills-Williams refused to adhere to the governor’s demands, according to local media reports. She was later unceremoniously relieved from her duties at Government House and jounced to and fro to various government departments by the administration.

“I am not confident that your access and potential influence to ongoing criminal investigations and evidence would not be compromised on behalf of and through your association with Attorney Lee J. Rohn,” wrote the governor in his notice of termination letter, seen here.

Mr. Mapp directed Mr. Walker to immediately terminate her access to files, communications equipment, and all Department of Justice property, and to process a final payroll payment to her for the period October 5, 2015, through the last day she was physically present for work at the Department of Justice.

Feature Image: Governor Kenneth Mapp speaking during Veterans Day 2015 celebrations at Budhoe Park, Frederiksted.

Image Credit: VIC.