Former Sen. Alvin L. Williams was sentenced Wednesday to 52 months in federal prison, almost a year after he pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering out of an indictment that originally included charges ranging from embezzlement to public corruption.
Williams was turned over to federal marshals immediately after Wednesday’s sentencing hearing in Virgin Islands District Court.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District Court Judge Curtis Gomez also sentenced Williams to three years of supervised release, restitution payments in an amount still to be determined and 300 hours of community service.
On Jan. 17, 2013, Williams wrote in his change of plea request that he "engaged in illegal activities through a pattern of racketeering as a Senator in the Virgin Islands Legislature." The original nine-count indictment alleged that Williams, among other things:
• Tried to bribe Public Works Commissioner Darryl Smalls with $10,000 cash in hopes of securing work for Ace Development, Inc., his family’s contracting company;
• Solicited a bribe from the developers of the Raphune Vista housing project on St. Thomas in exchange for helping to get the project funded; and
• Received a $10,000 and a $25,000 bribe – both in the form of campaign contributions – from the developers of the Tutu Park Mall windmill power generating project, between September 2008 and September 2009.
In the end, Williams pleaded guilty to "operating and participating in a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in illegal activities, including: bribing a public official, soliciting and receiving bribes from numerous V.I. construction developers, fraudulently increasing staff members’ salaries and personally using the increase in funds, and having his staff members fraudulently do his University of Phoenix coursework during legislative hours," according to the release.
Williams was arrested in November 2012 along with two of his long-time legislative staffers, Garry Sprauve and Kim Blackett, who were also sentenced Tuesday. Initially, the group was charged with federal and territorial racketeering and public corruption charges stemming from allegedly offering bribes, soliciting bribes, extorting money from employees, and a slew of other offenses.
Sprauve, who also took a plea deal in March 2013, was sentenced by Gomez Wednesday to one year in prison and three years of probation. He will also have to pay restitution, in an amount still to be determined, and serve 300 hours of community service. At previous hearings over the past few months, government attorneys said that with the plea deal, Sprauve faced up to five years in prison and a $1,000 fine.
In the end, Sprauve pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy relating to fraudulent claims upon the government for helping Williams solicit a bribe of $10,000, in the form of campaign contributions, from the developers of the Tutu Park Mall wind power generating project. In exchange for the developer sending Williams 10 checks for $1,000, which were eventually deposited into a non-campaign account, Williams used “his influence as a senator” to promote the project, according to government attorneys prosecuting the case.
The government has also said Sprauve did not report the money as a campaign contribution as required by law, but rather conspired with Williams to hide it in another bank account.
In the original indictment, Blackett was charged with two counts of obtaining money by false pretenses for time she spent on the job doing Williams’ work for the University of Phoenix, from which he was seeking online degrees. Prosecuting attorneys have said that Blackett was getting paid under false pretenses and defrauded the government by using legislative and public funds for doing non-legislative work.
Blackett’s deal allowed her to plead guilty to one count, which carried a maximum sentence of two years in prison and a $500 fine.
Gomez sentenced her Wednesday to probation and ordered her to pay restitution in an amount still to be determined. Like Williams and Sprauve, she also has to serve 300 hours of community service.
In Wednesday’s news release, U.S. Attorney Ronald W. Sharpe said the sentences should remind all public officials "of the possible consequences when they seek to use their office for their own personal gain."
"Public service is a public trust," Sharpe said. "Those who violate this trust for personal gain will not escape justice."
