Dec. 19, 2003 – A federal grand jury on St. Thomas has indicted a former V.I. National Park supervisor on charges of theft of U.S. government property.
The 14-count indictment accuses Genevieve Segura of embezzling and stealing money from the national park in various amounts on various occasions between approximately June 1999 and May 2002.
Segura, 43, had responsibility for managing the park's fee-collection program, according to a release from the office of U.S. Attorney David Nissman.
Nissman said the investigation that led to the indictment was carried out by the Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, in the U.S. Interior Department. "We have made a concerted effort to get the federal Inspector General community to put agents in the Virgin Islands to address fraud," he said.
The result, he said, was that Interior Inspector General Earl Devany "recognized this need and hired two Virgin Islanders as criminal investigators."
The release noted that the maximum statutory penalty for counts charging theft of money in excess of $1,000 is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while the maximum for counts charging theft of a lesser amount of money is one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
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