Two former senior officials in the US Virgin Islands government have been sentenced to a combined 17 years in federal prison for their roles in a public corruption scheme involving the misuse of COVID-19 relief funds.

Former Virgin Islands Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Jenifer O’Neal was sentenced on June 12 to 84 months in prison by US District Court Judge Mark A Kearney after being convicted of charges including honest services wire fraud, bribery involving federal funds and money laundering conspiracy.

Former Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD) Commissioner Ray Martinez was sentenced earlier to 120 months in federal prison for his role in the scheme, which also involved bribery, fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice.

According to court documents, the case centred around government contracts and payments involving contractor David Whitaker and his company, Mon Ethos.

Prosecutors said Martinez used his position as police commissioner to accept personal benefits from Whitaker, including luxury travel, hotel stays, rent payments, tuition payments and other expenses, in exchange for official actions benefiting Whitaker’s business.

The evidence presented at trial also showed that Martinez approved and facilitated government payments to Mon Ethos, including invoices funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, a federal programme created to help communities recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prosecutors said the scheme resulted in more than US$1 million in government payments to Mon Ethos and provided substantial personal benefits to Martinez.

O’Neal was found to have used her position as OMB director to help approve and process a government invoice that had been inflated by US$70,000. Prosecutors said she received US$17,730 from the inflated invoice to cover lease obligations related to her coffee shop, Java Grande.

She was also accused of accepting luxury gifts from Whitaker in exchange for expediting payments on government contracts.

In addition to her prison sentence, O’Neal was ordered to serve three years of supervised release, pay a US$50,000 fine, restitution of US$34,345.39 jointly with Martinez, and forfeiture of US$17,730.

Martinez was ordered to serve three years of supervised release, pay restitution of US$77,257.39, a US$5,000 fine and forfeiture of US$127,870.34.

US Attorney Adam F Sleeper said the sentences send a message that corruption by public officials will not be tolerated.

“Government officials, especially those directly responsible for government finances, have a duty to safeguard the funds entrusted to them,” Sleeper said.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with assistance from the Virgin Islands Office of Inspector General and was prosecuted by the US Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section and the US Attorney’s Office for the District of the Virgin Islands.