Lee Rohn Threatens Defamation Suit After Mapp Says She Was Caught With Cocaine

ST. CROIX — On Tuesday, Governor Kenneth Mapp again said Attorney Lee Rohn was a convicted criminal, and that Attorney LaVerne Mills-Williams’ firing was because of her association with Ms. Rohn. But this time, Mr. Mapp went into detail explaining some of the problems Ms. Rohn had found herself in, prompting the respected lawyer to threaten suit against Mr. Mapp in 15 days as of Wednesday, November 25, after filing a Freedom of Information Act request, seen here, asking the governor to provide information to back up the claims he made against her.

“I understand that in my absence from the territory Kenneth Mapp maliciously defamed me on a St. Thomas radio show. I am astonished by his personal attacks, but knowing his past irresponsible behavior, I should not be. I have drafted a freedom of information request to Mr. Mapp to provide all documents or facts to support his baseless accusations and given him 15 days to respond. If he does not, I will personally sue to admit he has no facts to support the lies and insults,” Ms. Rohn said in a press release issued to The Consortium on Wednesday morning.

“It is important for the people of the Virgin Islands to have evidence of its governor’s inability to tell the truth, particularly in light of his improper actions with the sale of the Hess refinery and his demands for kick-backs. I also understand that at the end of the radio interview Mr. Mapp indicated he would falsely have me arrested. We are definitely in a precarious point in our democracy when governors are allowed to freely act as illegally as Mapp,” Ms. Rohn added.

The governor, speaking on talk radio AM 100 with Liston Davis, explained in detail why Mrs. Mills-Williams was fired for her association with Ms. Rohn, revisiting Ms. Rohn’s alleged history with the criminal justice system, including alleged run-ins with the law while on the U.S. mainland.

Below, the governor’s full statement on talk radio on Tuesday morning:

“LaVerne Mills-Williams was hired as deputy chief legal council to the governor. That means she is the council to the Governor of the Virgin Islands. If LaVerne  Mills-Williams were any other attorney to any person, believes that you are doing something that is inconsistent with the law, the first order of business is that they should advise you. They should say by phone call, by meeting, by memo, by email that, ‘client, there is something that you are doing that you ought not to be doing in the conduct of your business, and you need to cease doing that.’

“So, there is no conversation, no record, no attempts — I’ve never had a meeting with LaVerne Mills-Williams, nor has LaVerne Mills-Williams requested a meeting, sent me an email or any issue advising me that any conduct in the administration in government house particular, is in violation of the law.

“The issue with her termination centers around her association. La Verne Mills-Williams was assigned to the Department of Justice as special council to the attorney general. That means that every item, investigation work that the Attorney General comes in contact with, LaVerne Mills-Williams will have knowledge of.

“LaVerne Mills-Williams chose to associate herself, in the middle of that sensitive job, with someone who is a convicted criminal and on probation in this territory. And that individual doesn’t have a singular experience with the criminal justice system — I think folks forget that I was a police office in this territory — and that person is Lee Rohn. And Lee Rohn [has had] a run-in with the law on narcotics. Prior to Lee Rohn’s arrival on St. Croix, Lee Rohn was being chased with an individual, in a vehicle in Austin, Texas, that was ran off the road by federal agents, and arrested for having in her possession several kilos of cocaine. I’m telling you from my police days.

“Lee Rohn turned state witness, was not charged as a result of the information that she provided that resulted in the incarceration of other individuals who were charged in a cocaine ring. Lee Rohn moved to the Virgin Islands — I suspect seeking a new life, a new identity and a new character. Since being in the Virgin Islands, Lee Rohn has been the subject of investigations having to do with narcotics, has had her private property in Miami ceased for housing drugs and narcotics, and recently stood before the Bar of Justice, not with a jury, confessed and pleaded guilty that she was involved in the trafficking of narcotics in this territory. That is not someone that the special council to the Attorney General of the Virgin Islands should be associated with.

“And let me be clear, LaVerne Mills-Williams was hired as an exempt employee of the Government of the Virgin Islands, as council to the governor. I don’t have to keep a council [for] a week, a month or a year. That’s a career job. So her association did that.

“And LaVerne Mills-Williams did not go to a government agency — the Department of Justice, the police department, [or] a senator — and say, ‘I believe that the governor is violating the law, and I want to report it,’ and so as a result of reporting it, she suffered some termination of her job. She associated herself with a known convicted criminal; and she cannot serve as special council to the attorney general and doing that. And I made the call that that’s inappropriate and that she could no longer serve in her capacity.”

According to the governor, the bad blood between him and Ms. Rohn dates back decades. He also made known that the DOJ has filed a motion to dismiss the suit brought against the governor by Mrs. Mills-Williams.

Correction: November 27, 2014

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Governor Kenneth Mapp was on talk radio on Wednesday morning, this week, when it was actually Tuesday morning. The story has been updated to reflect the correct information.