ST. THOMAS — Attorney General Claude Earl Walker has announced that the Department of Justice is putting resources into tackling public corruption, white collar crimes and fraud-related crimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not just focusing on solving homicides and some of the other serious crimes,\u201d Mr. Walker said. \u201cWe also intend to deal with this issue of fraud and public corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Walker made these remarks during a joint press conference with Virgin Islands Police Department Commissioner Delroy Richards, Sr., held Friday morning at Government House here to inform the public of an initiative between both departments to arrest economic crimes \u2013 the establishment of an Economics Crime Bureau.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernor Mapp has made it clear that this type of conduct must stop in the Territory and the Commissioner and I are dedicated to doing this,\u201d Mr. Walker said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we have conducted this initiative. It\u2019s unfortunate to have to inform you that this is only the beginning; we have cases that we\u2019re actively working on right now that we will make known to you in the near future involving similar conduct, involving public corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Walker said there has been an increase in incidences of fraud and a number of elderly persons are the victims. ‘<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have other cases involving fraud \u2013 persons going into someone\u2019s account and withdrawing money without permission,\u201d Mr. Walker said. \u201cA number of these cases involve the elderly and typically we find that someone who\u2019s close to the elderly person or senior citizen as a caregiver or a family member who has access to the senior\u2019s account and is negotiating social security payment or having access to those funds is misusing those funds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. \u00a0Walker said the DOJ will \u201caggressively investigate the cases with the police department and prosecute\u201d persons who are suspected of engaging in fraudulent activity. The hiring of a director of white collar crime is one strategy the Attorney General\u2019s office has employed to vigorously fight such crimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Legislature considers white collar crime and public corruption very seriously to the point that it created this office within the Attorney General\u2019s office and we conducted a national search for a director and we have found a director who works closely with the police department to investigate this category of crime and is totally fixed on working on those issues and not anything else,\u201d Mr. Walker said.<\/p>\n
Assistant Attorney General John Tolud, who was recently chosen to head the white collar crime division, has already become fully involved in fighting white collar crime within the Territory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have several ongoing active investigations and we\u2019re putting forth the full resources of the office to resolve the existing cases or we\u2019re taking them to trial,\u201d Mr. Tolud said. \u201cThe AG and I want to send a message that these types of crimes can no longer be tolerated and that the government and the people of the Territory can no longer afford these crimes and the negative impact that they have on daily lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his prepared statement, Mr. Richards extolled the \u201cjoint effort\u201d of the VIPD\u2019s Economics Crimes Bureau, formed in 2015, and the DOJ, which resulted in the arrest of several people on St. Croix.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bureau has functioned well within the last year and a half, it\u2019s done its job and as a result of the bureau\u2019s initiatives, several arrests were made on the island of St. Croix,\u201d Mr. Richards said. \u201cThe investigations were long; there were certain consultations that were done with the Department of Justice. Affidavits were prepared or reviewed by the Justice Department, so it was a joint effort. As a result of the investigations and affidavits, warrants were issued and I must announce that this week on Tuesday, Nov. 1, the Virgin Islands Police Economics Crime Unit executed four arrest warrants issued by a Superior Court judge.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that there are similar initiatives being conducted on St. Thomas and similar arrests will be forthcoming.<\/p>\n
Police are also on the hunt for Rosa Diaz, a 55-year-old Hispanic woman who is wanted for forgery. She is described as weighing 150 pounds and being 5\u2019 4\u201d tall. She has black hair, brown eyes and a brown complexion, according to Mr. Richards.<\/p>\n
Mr. Richards vowed that \u201cthe Economics Crime Unit, working in conjunction with the Department of Justice, will remain focused and will remain relentless in its pursuit of identifying and bringing to justice those individuals who continue to prey on unsuspecting folks in the Territory, to include our elderly.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Feature Image: From left to right: V.I.P.D. Commissioner Delroy Richards and Attorney General Claude Walker.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ST. THOMAS — Attorney General Claude Earl Walker has announced that the Department of Justice is putting resources into tackling public corruption, white collar crimes and fraud-related crimes. \u201cWe\u2019re not just focusing on solving homicides and some of the other serious crimes,\u201d Mr. Walker said. \u201cWe also intend to deal with this issue of fraud […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":46304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4400,147],"tags":[2847,971],"yoast_head":"\n