The territory’s public surveyor has asked the Superior Court to review his six-month suspension for using another person’s name on his private surveys, according to court documents.
Wayne Callwood’s surveying license was suspended Jan. 15 after the Virgin Islands Board of Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors found him guilty of misconduct. The board also suspended private engineer Francisco Nadal for six months for allowing Callwood to use his name on official documents.
Both men claimed in court documents filed Monday that the license suspensions would cause them unemployment. Board Chair John Woods said by email Saturday that Callwood was allowed to keep his government job — ensuring private surveyors’ work matches official maps — because the public surveyor job does not require a license.
Woods did not suggest immediate criminal action against the men, saying the determination would be up to the Attorney General’s Office.
Callwood and Nadal asked the court to halt any further proceedings against them in the matter until the judicial review was completed.
Superior Court Judge Denise Francois granted Nadal’s request for a judicial review, according to court documents released Friday. As of press time, a ruling had not been posted on Callwood’s request.
In the men’s June hearing before the board, Callwood described a long-standing relationship with Nadal in which he performed private survey work, then generated one of two seals in Nadal’s name. The purpose, he said, was to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, according to transcripts obtained by the Source.
Nadal, who in the transcripts said he did not recall some of his own answers or was confused by questions during the hearing, said he was unaware of a second seal but approved Callwood’s work without reviewing it.
Callwood told the Source in 2024 that he didn’t consider it wrong and that he would never betray his government duties. What he did privately was separate, Callwood reasoned. He likened it to a taxi driver asking another driver to take his fare.
Callwood testified he used Nadal’s seal to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
“Because I’m the public surveyor and that would shed a cloud over me doing something like that. Also most of my predecessors used to do that, all in St. Thomas and St. Croix did that. But I didn’t want to follow in that same limelight. So I said we are partners. He could sign them for me because we work together as a team all the time,” Callwood said, according to the transcript.
Signing off on his own surveys under Nadal’s name was not a conflict of interest, Callwood said, according to the transcripts. It may be “bad practice,” he said, but it was a common practice for the cadastral office long before his time.
“Yes, but nobody is yelling about it,” Callwood said, according to the transcript. “Like I said before, all the previous public surveyors, St. Thomas and St. Croix, did that — all of them.”
He also claimed Government House knew of his private survey work.
“The Lt. Governor and the Governor allowed me to survey. We’ve been through this already with them. They allowed me to survey. But I said, listen, I can have somebody sign off on it. I don’t want to muddy those waters,” Callwood said, according to the transcripts.
Neither the Governor’s nor the Lieutenant Governor’s offices replied to requests for comment.
St. John surveyor Larry Best raised concerns about Callwood in 2022 after conducting a topographical review of Estate Hard Labour’s Parcel 13Ba-3. Best said he found boundary posts placed by Callwood that bore another surveyor’s markings. The survey was also wildly inaccurate — off by 30 feet in some places, Best said.
Best made similar allegations going back to at least 2019 — including surveys in Carolina and Estate Chocolate Hole.
Callwood said he stood by his work and that the out-of-place bound post may have been moved by neighbors, feuding family members, or anyone else, according to transcripts of the June hearing.
In addition to the six-month license suspension for both men, they must complete an eight-hour ethics course before the suspension is lifted. They’ll also be on a yearlong probationary period after the six-month suspension. Future violations of using another person’s license could result in license revocation.
