“Attorney Griffiths stepped in and helped us during a time of transition.\u00a0 I appreciate and thanked her for all of her efforts on behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands,” he continued.<\/p>\n
The governor plans to meet with Griffiths in the “near future” to discuss her continued role in his administration.<\/p>\n
The dismissal follows a suit filed against Griffiths<\/a><\/span> by Assistant Attorney General Denise George-Counts of the Virgin Islands Department of Justice (DOJ) last Thursday, calling for sanctions against Griffiths for professional misconduct.<\/p>\n The suit alleges that Griffiths \u201cpurposefully\u201d withheld information and mislead the Court when she filed a motion to withdraw a plea deal that the government, through George-Counts, had reached with the owner of JCK Communications, Jonathan Cohen, in a misdemeanor case involving owed taxes.<\/p>\n The suit also shed light on the ongoing confrontation at the DOJ since the departure<\/a> of former Acting AG Soraya Diase-Coffelt and the subsequent appointment of Griffiths<\/a><\/span>, which was made known to VI Consortium<\/em>\u00a0through\u00a0internal letters provided by sources with intimate knowledge of the chaos, addressed to Radio Personality Lee Carl, detailing the department\u2019s alleged ongoing dissatisfaction with the acting AG.<\/p>\n In her May 19 motion to withdraw the government\u2019s plea deal with Cohen, Griffiths said George-Counts\u00a0was not authorized to enter into the agreement pursuant to DOJ\u2019s \u201cinternal operating procedures\u201d requiring the written authorization of Griffiths and the Criminal Chief.<\/p>\n However, in her suit against Griffiths, George-Counts says the acting AG misrepresented the plea bargain procedure and mislead the court \u201cby withholding the material fact that authorization and approval applied to felony cases only and was not required in misdemeanor cases.\u201d By doing so, George-Counts added, \u201cAttorney Griffiths has essentially perpetrated a fraud on the court by her dishonesty and misrepresentation in an effort to maliciously undermine me and the integrity of the proper plea bargaining process.\u201d<\/p>\n The suit calls for Griffiths to be \u201cseverely sanctioned for her professional misconduct.”<\/p>\n Assistant Attorney General Denise George-Counts.<\/p><\/div>\n Cohen was arrested in April of 2014 on 21 counts of willful failure to pay more than $10 million in gross receipt, corporate and personal taxes from 2004 to 2010. But the plea deal that George-Counts arrived to with Cohen, which the \u00a0owner of JKC Communications signed on May 12, enraged Griffiths, who then confronted George -Counts acting \u201cerratic, desperate, hostile and aggressive,\u201d according to the suit.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first time Attorney Griffiths directed me to withdraw the plea was on May 15, 2015, after it was signed by the Defendant, at which time in a bizarre encounter with her, she repeated \u201cthe Governor is going to have your head on a chopping block for this<\/em>!\u201d I had no idea what she was talking about as I had no conversation with the Governor, but I asked her why she did not tell me she had issues with it before now. Her behavior was hostile, aggressive, erratic, sometimes incoherent and somewhat desperate,\u201d George-Counts said.<\/p>\n Read the full suit here<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n On January 16, people with deep ties to the Mapp administration revealed to VI Consortium<\/em> that DOJ in St. Thomas was\u00a0in \u201copen revolt\u201d following Governor Kenneth Mapp\u2019s selection of Attorney Terri Griffiths as Acting Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands in the aftermath of the\u00a0resignation of Soraya Diase-Coffelt<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Soon after these people, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, informed VI Consortium<\/em> of the\u00a0atmosphere at the DOJ, a press release was issued\u00a0by the Mapp administration on the same day confirming Griffiths as the governor\u2019s new pick as the territory\u2019s chief law enforcement officer.<\/p>\n Sources say one of the\u00a0reasons Diase-Coffelt resigned her post as Attorney General on January 15,\u00a0after only two weeks on the job, was because she refused to allow Griffiths to join her team. However, Randy Knight, the governor\u2019s\u00a0chief of staff, insisted that Griffiths join the team. In fact, Knight walked Griffiths to the Attorney General\u2019s office prior to\u00a0her appointment, sources told the VI Consortium<\/em>.<\/p>\n Furthermore, a letter from the staff of the Department of Justice, dated Jan. 15, 2015 and addressed to\u00a0Mr. Lee Carl of WSTA Radio St. Thomas, described the current mood at DOJ, stating that there is \u201cturmoil at the Department of Justice.\u201d<\/p>\n DOJ staffers also sent a letter to the Mapp-Potter transition team outlining\u00a0their grievances.<\/p>\n Both of those letters can be seen\u00a0here<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n The letter to Mr. Carl is also reproduced directly below.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n Dear Mr. Carl,<\/em><\/p>\n We the employees of the Department of Justice are in a state of shock after becoming aware that our new Attorney General Soraya Diase-Coffelt has resigned after one week. This department, after experiencing eight years of failed leadership, look forward to embracing new leadership and we are truly disappointed that Judge Diase-Coffelt thought it best to leave us. There are many serious issues to be addressed in this department, and we have faith in her abilities, but we understand that she has morale standards that she must adhere to.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n We understand that she wanted to make certain changes, but it appeared that some people wanted business to run the same as usual. We made recommendations to her and we believe she was going to make some necessary changes, and she was not given the authority to do what she thought was best for our department. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Politics is hard but we respect that she will not be bullied by others into choosing her managers and some of her staff at the DOJ. Attorney Diase-Coffelt brought in Kevin Rodriguez, who is well qualified, however he is gone because of politics. Solicitor General Bernard Van Sluytman\u00a0was given a pink slip, and immediately after, we lost an attorney who decided that she couldn\u2019t stay after that poor decision. Our Chief Deputy Attorney General, Wayne Anderson, was also given a pink slip and this was another bad decision. Turmoil at the Department of Justice! Who is listening to this department?<\/em><\/p>\n We are attaching a letter to the Mapp-Potter transition team that clearly spelled out all of our concerns. We believe that she agreed with our concerns and was about to make tough decisions but she was not allowed to do so. It\u2019s a shame.<\/em><\/p>\n Thank you for your attention.<\/em><\/p>\n Sincerely the staff of the Virgin Islands Department of Justice.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n Griffiths notably represented then-gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Mapp during the 2014 Nov. 4 General Election in a civil suit filed Oct. 30 in Superior Court against Elections Supervisor Caroline Fawkes, St. Thomas-St. John District Board of Elections Chairman Arturo Watlington, Jr., Joint Boards of Election Chairman Alecea Wells, and St. Croix District Board Chairman Adelbert Bryan to prevent the Board of Elections from stopping voters from scanning their ballots in the DS200 voting machines.<\/p>\n The Superior Court ruled against<\/a><\/span> Mapp; however, on appeal to the Supreme Court, Mapp won the case, granting voters the right to place their ballots into the DS200 machines. Fawkes was \u00a0ordered<\/a><\/span>\u00a0to make the machines available to voters for the Nov. 18 run-off election.<\/p>\n![\"Assistant](\"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/denise-george-counts-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>