Reader Sandy Cole asks: "Was Rosemary Sauter-Frett ever caught? We almost sent her money last year to rent a villa."
Last February, a V.I. Superior Court magistrate issued a warrant for Sauter-Frett’s arrest Friday after local real estate agents reported that checks worth tens of thousands of dollars drawn on the RE/MAX Dream Properties of Lockhart Gardens on St. Thomas escrow account had bounced.
Several local real estate agents, some of whom worked for Sauter-Frett at RE/MAX, filed complaints with the V.I. Department of Justice, claiming $1 million to $2 million that should be in Sauter-Frett’s escrow accounts are missing.
Sauter-Frett’s office was abandoned and she has been missing ever since. U.S. Bankruptcy Court placed her in involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings in relation to the missing money.
On June 14, 2010, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walroth signed an order allowing Sauter-Frett to be served by publication on the grounds that she cannot be located.
Attorney Joycelyn Hewlett, civil chief with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the U.S. Virgin Islands, confirmed this week that Sauter-Frett remains missing, and federal bankruptcy proceedings are continuing against her in absentia.
Confidential tips regarding her whereabouts may be phoned into the Virgin Islands Department of Justice, Special Investigations Division or the White Collar Crime & Public Corruption Unit at 774-5666, ext. 186. Tips can be sent to or the anonymous crime tip service, Crime Stoppers USVI at 1-800-222-TIPS.
