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Former V.I. Police Commissioner Ray Martinez is asking a judge to appoint a private investigator, at $85 an hour, to help prepare for his upcoming criminal trial, according to a motion filed Thursday. Martinez is set to go to trial alongside former Office of Management and Budget Director Jenifer O’Neal on Dec. 3 in U.S. District Court on St. Thomas. Both have pleaded not guilty to receiving bribes from a former cybersecurity contractor named David Whitaker, who pleaded guilty to bribery and wire fraud in Sept. 2024 and is awaiting sentencing. Whitaker was already a convicted felon with an extensive criminal history when he began providing services for the V.I. Police Department in 2022, and he is expected to testify for eight to 10 hours about his business dealings with the V.I. government. Prosecutors plan to call other witnesses, including V.I. Property and Procurement Commissioner Lisa Alejandro and V.I. Police Deputy Commissioner Jason Marsh. Martinez and O’Neal both resigned their government jobs when news of their involvement in a federal investigation became public in June 2024. Martinez owns Don Felito’s Cookshop restaurant, while O’Neal owns Java Grande coffee shop. O’Neal hired her own defense attorney, Dale Lionel Smith. Martinez has claimed he is unable to afford counsel, so the court granted him two court-appointed lawyers from Puerto Rico to represent him at the government’s expense. On Thursday, one of those lawyers, Miguel Oppenheimer, asked the court to appoint a private investigator to assist with the case. According to the motion, Martinez needs someone to investigate the information alleged in the indictment, which was filed in January, as well as information “related to the 2022-2024 activities of cooperating witnesses,” locate and interview potential defense witnesses, interview prosecution witnesses, and collect rebuttal evidence and documents “pertaining to past history of the prosecution’s witnesses and any other admissible evidence related to their motives and inclination to produce perjured testimony.” Oppenheimer requested the court make the appointment under the Criminal Justice Act, a federal law that requires the government provide funding for legal counsel and support for indigent criminal defendants. The motion asks the court to appoint private investigator Roy Moorehead at a rate of $85 per hour, “for an initial 35 hours to assist counsel in investigating this case.” Oppenheimer also filed a copy of Moorehead’s resume, which lists his professional qualifications and prior work history. Moorehead graduated from high school on St. Croix and served in the U.S. Army from 1985 to 1989. He worked as a V.I. Police Officer from 1990 to 1995, and subsequently became a private investigator and director of security at Sugar Bay Resort. In 2000, Moorehead became a Special Agent for the V.I. Department of Justice, and served as director of the Special Investigation Division in 2010 and 2011. He also served as district supervisor for the Executive Security Unit for the Office of the Governor in the 2000s, followed by a stint as Director of Security for the West Indian Company. Moorehead was director of security and investigations for the V.I. Lottery for six months in late 2019 and early 2020, and he has been working in several roles for the last few years — owner of The Sentry Group security consulting firm, and assistant property manager and chief security officer for Havensight Mall. Moorehead is also the treasurer for St. Thomas Rescue, which held its annual general meeting in June at Martinez’s restaurant, Don Felito’s Cookshop. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. also recently appointed Moorehead to serve on the Parole Board. Judge Mark Kearney has not yet ruled on the motion. But he did enter another order Thursday, which noted that he is “mindful of our obligation to avoid conflicts among potential witnesses with other parties,” and is requiring each defendant to file a notice “identifying a person they may call as a witness or identified in a Defendant’s case in chief along with the town of their residence no later than December 1.” Oppenheimer also filed a sealed document with the court Thursday, which he said must not be made public because it contains privileged information about the defense strategy in the upcoming trial. “The interest in secrecy outweighs the presumption of public access of the motion,” Oppenheimer wrote in his motion to file the document under seal, which Kearney granted.
