Rhea: Justice Department willing to review prosecution cases supported by Mon Ethos

Attorney General-Designee Gordon Rhea on Monday announced that the V.I. Department of Justice is taking steps to review prosecution cases supported with evidence gathering by Mon Ethos

Rhea, citing his office’s “legal and ethical duties” expressed his willingness to comply with a request by Chief Territorial Public Defender Julie S. Todman. Todman, according to a statement from her office last week, said she had written to Rhea “demanding” that the DOJ provide information about which cases involved investigation by Mon Ethos in the wake of a guilty plea on fraud and bribery charges by former owner David Whitaker.

She wrote at the time that “Virgin Islanders have been and continue to be prosecuted by evidence that was being held in trust by this now-admitted criminal and the OTPD demands identification of those cases” and that her office “is committed to pursuing its inquiry into this revelation and will seek all avenues for justice if the authorities refuse to make a willing disclosure.”