In Appeal to Third Circuit, Barnes Argues District Court Lacked Jurisdiction

Stephanie Barnes, a former Casino Control Commission contractor serving 44 months in prison for stealing from the government, should have her sentence vacated because the V.I. District Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case, according to an appeal filed Monday in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Barnes was found guilty by a jury in December 2021 in V.I. District Court on St. Croix of theft or bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds under 18 U.S. Code, Section 666. She also was convicted of two charges under the V.I. Code — filing a false tax return and receipt of government property. However, her appeal asserts that the federal charge should never have been brought because “no federal interest warranted the federal government’s intervention,” given that the Casino Control Commission is an independent entity that was created by an act of the Legislature in 1995, separate from the V.I. government, and received no federal program benefits.

The commission’s “revenue originates from private sources and its operational account is held and administered autonomously. The Commission’s chairperson is an ‘agent’ of the Commission, not of the V.I. Government. The funds purportedly misapplied/converted were under the ‘custody, care and control’ of the Commission, not of the V.I. Government. Only the Commission was a party in Barnes’ contract. The evidence did not support § 666’s jurisdictional element,” the appeal states.