Responding to Chief Territorial Public Defender Julie Todman’s urgent call for transparency regarding criminal cases linked to companies formerly led by David Whitaker, V.I. Attorney General Nominee Gordon Rhea acknowledged in a letter Monday the gravity of the situation and pledged his office’s full cooperation in identifying any prosecutions where evidence handled by Whitaker may have been involved.
“Even though Mon Ethos’s relationship with the V.I. Police Department began long before my appointment as Attorney General Nominee, it is my responsibility to set things right,” Rhea stated in his letter, which was sent to the media Monday.
He emphasized that the V.I. Justice Department is fully prepared to meet its legal and ethical obligations, ensuring that defendants whose cases may have been compromised are informed. However, Rhea also noted the complexity of the task ahead, explaining that gathering the necessary information would require extensive collaboration with the police, which initially sent the devices and evidence to Whitaker’s companies.
Rhea’s response follows Todman’s strong demand for immediate transparency after it was revealed that Whitaker, the former head of Mon Ethos Pro Support and its subsidiary, the Office of Data Discovery and Forensic Analysis (ODDFA), had recently pled guilty to federal wire fraud and bribery charges. Whitaker admitted to engaging in fraudulent activities and bribery schemes that have cast doubt on the integrity of evidence used in numerous criminal prosecutions over the past two years.
“Virgin Islanders have been and continue to be prosecuted based on evidence managed by an individual who has now admitted to criminal activities,” Todman said in her own release last week, underscoring the urgency of her request. The Office of the Territorial Public Defender (OTPD) is pushing for full disclosure of all criminal cases where evidence or services provided by Whitaker’s companies were involved, raising concerns about potential miscarriages of justice.
Rhea assured Todman Monday that his office is initiating the process to identify the relevant cases immediately, though he cautioned that it would take time. “The logistics of obtaining the information you request is certain to take more than the fourteen days you suggest,” Rhea wrote, adding that the VIPD will need to identify the devices sent to Whitaker’s companies, determine the suspects connected to each device, and then trace those suspects to their respective cases and attorneys. He committed to working diligently but made it clear that the timeline would depend heavily on the VIPD’s ability to gather the necessary information.
Whitaker’s companies had been entrusted with critical evidence, including electronic devices from individuals under investigation. His recent guilty plea has brought to light a series of fraudulent activities, including planting surveillance devices in government offices, which he later claimed to have “discovered” during a sweep, billing the VIPD over $130,000 for the bogus work.
