Ronica Miller, the wife of embattled former Schneider Regional Medical Center CEO Rodney Miller, will enter a plea to 10 separate counts of accessory after the fact when she faces arraignment April 3 in V.I Superior Court.
Ronica Miller was arrested in South Carolina in 2012 and eventually was extradited to the Virgin Islands, where on Thursday she faced her advice of rights hearing. She was ordered held on $500,000 bail at that time.
The charges she faces are tied to on ongoing V.I. Superior Court case, in which Rodney Miller and two other former Schneider officials have been tried on charges of corruption, embezzlement and larceny for allegedly siphoning funds from the hospital. Both previous trials on those charged have ended in hung juries. A new trial has been stayed until the V.I. Supreme Court rules on a motion to dismiss the case on grounds a new trial would violate the U.S. Constitution’s ban on double jeopardy.
When that case first went to trial, the Millers’ bank accounts were frozen. Ronica Miller faces charges that she withdraw a total of $421,900 from one of the accounts.
The account was frozen in November 2008 and Ronica Miller’s withdrawals occurred between July 23 and July 26, 2012, government attorneys said during her hearing Thursday.
At the conclusion of the hearing on St. Thomas, V.I. Magistrate Judge Henry Carr found probable cause to uphold the charges against Ronica Miller and said that each count carries a fine up to $250,000, along with seven and a half years in prison.
Ronica Miller was initially arrested in South Carolina in October 2012 on V.I. warrant but, after being released on $100,000 bond, she fought extradition back to the territory. After V.I. prosecutors got a formal state warrant to arrest to begin the extradition process, Ronica Miller disappeared. She was finally arrested again on March 3 and brought to the territory.
When arrested, Ronica Miller’s bail was set at $750,000, according to government attorney Denise George-Counts. During last week’s advice of rights hearing, Carr reduced the bail to $500,000.
Meanwhile, Rodney Miller, is serving 21 months at the Metropolitan Detention Center Guaynabo in Puerto Rico, on a related tax evasion charge. He was found guilty in September 2013 of causing, aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false and fraudulent 2006 income tax return. He was sentenced in January and began serving the sentence.
