By By SUZANNE CARLSON Daily News Staff
Copyright virginislandsdailynews
A judge has postponed the sentencing date for Calvert White to Jan. 22, according to an order filed Monday.
The former V.I. Commissioner of Sports, Parks, and Recreation, White was found guilty by a jury in July of wire fraud and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.
His sentencing date had been set for Dec. 5, two days after former V.I. Police Commissioner Ray Martinez and Office of Management and Budget Director Jenifer O’Neal are scheduled to go to trial in a similar case involving allegations of public corruption.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Mark Kearney entered an order rescheduling sentencing to Jan. 22.
He ordered the parties to file sentencing memoranda and motions for forfeiture no later than Jan. 14, and any motions seeking a sentence reduction for providing substantial assistance to the government must also be filed by that date.
Wire fraud carries a maximum possible penalty of 20 years in prison, and punishment for the bribery count is no more than 10 years.
White, 49, was found guilty at trial alongside co-defendant Benjamin Hendricks, 62, a government contractor who owns the maintenance company A Clean Environment.
Both have remained free pending sentencing, and Government House Communications Director Richard Motta Jr. has not responded to questions from The Daily News about whether the government plans to cancel its current contracts with A Clean Environment.
White’s attorney Clive Rivers also filed a motion for a new trial in August, which is still awaiting briefing.
According to a separate order Kearney entered Monday, the court has “not heard back” from the defense attorney representing Hendricks, Darren John-Baptiste, about whether he is available for a new sentencing date in January. Kearney ordered him to respond by Wednesday.
Jurors in the case heard witness testimony and other evidence, including recorded conversations in which White, via Hendricks, demanded a bribe of $16,000 from another government contractor, David Whitaker, in exchange for a contract to install surveillance cameras in territory parks.
According to Whitaker’s testimony and recorded conversations and text messages presented as evidence during the trial, White shared his competitors’ bid proposals with Whitaker and coached him on how to tailor the contract to satisfy the evaluation committee.
Whitaker is awaiting sentencing after entering a plea agreement with prosecutors, and he is expected to testify at the trial of Martinez and O’Neal in December.
