Monday, September 18, 2006

by Susan Mann
Caribbean Net News St John-St Thomas Correspondent
Email: susan@caribbeannetnews.com

ST JOHN, USVI: US Virgin Islands Congressional Delegate Donna Christensen plans to file a request for additional information under the Freedom of Information Act because she is "extremely disappointed at the lack of information given to the public today by the Justice Department," at the conclusion of a highly controversial St John investigation."

This statement was made in response to an announcement by the Justice Department: "The Department of Justice and the FBI announced today that there was insufficient evidence to support additional criminal civil rights charges with respect to the allegations that a St John resident was the subject of federal civil rights violations during June-August 2005."

The report said the US Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice, the US Attorney's Office for the Virgin Islands and the FBI, "conducted a vigorous and comprehensive investigation and carefully considered all the evidence,"and,"A thorough investigation revealed that this matter does not involve a prosecutable violation of federal criminal civil rights statutes."

The Dept. of Justice had previously informed the media that unless charges were going to be filed at the conclusion of the investigation no specific information, other than that decision, would be made public. The investigation resulted from an accusation by Caribbean-American, business woman Esther Frett last summer, that she was raped by multiple white men wearing masks, then bound and "thrown in to the ocean."

In a separate, but related matter; white, business man Robert Sells is currently incarcerated in the territory, having been found guilty of aggravated assault and battery, and a felony enhancement charge of racially biased intimidation, concerning his on going interactions with the same woman. The building where each party owned and operated their businesses was destroyed by an act of arson, as racially charged events unfolded last summer on St John.

The Justice Department said the decision not to pursue criminal charges, "is based on the facts developed by the lengthy and through investigation."

However, Delegate Christensen said, "The press release created more questions than it answered." She also criticized the manner in which the findings were released. "We had hoped that there would be a Justice Department/FBI press conference that would allow members of the press to ask the relevant questions on behalf of the public." and, "This was a very sensitive issue and it has not been handled well from the beginning."

The Justice Dept. explained that a total of eight special agents of the FBI, agents of the Bureau of AFT and resources of the NPS. As part of the investigation, the FBI obtained the investigative files of the USVI Police Dept. and the USVI AG. Numerous witnesses were interviewed, additional evidence was collected, and extensive forensic evidence was evaluated. The report indicated that the investigation could not establish, "beyond a reasonable doubt that a person acted with the intent to violate a federally protected right on the basis of race, gender or some other form of bias that is prohibited by federal law."

Federal privacy law, the Code of Federal Regulations and Department of Justice policy limit the disclosure of details regarding the case, in order to protect the privacy of all citizens involved whether they are a witness, subject, or victim.

In spite of these mandated stipulations territory residents, St Johnians in particular, are clearly not satisfied with this outcome, and do not feel the Dept. of Justice is justified in making a decision to close this case.

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