An FBI raid on the St. Thomas restaurant of former VIPD Commissioner Ray Martinez is an effort to embarrass him because he would not come to a pre-indictment plea agreement with the United States, according to a motion filed in V.I. District Court to return equipment that was taken.
The restaurant — Don Felito’s Cookshop — is located in Estate Thomas across the street from Schneider Regional Medical Center on St. Thomas and is not yet open. In the early morning of Dec. 16, FBI agents “armed with M4 automatic rifles and body armor” executed a search warrant and seized the kitchen hood system, including side curtains, “in order to make a spectacle out of the seizure,” the motion states. An affidavit filed in support of the seizure remains sealed.
In doing so, the FBI agents damaged the property, leaving a leaking hole in the roof, “which is further evidence that the Hood System was part of the property,” and under U.S. Code concerning civil forfeiture of property may be seized only after a court order of forfeiture, according to the motion for return of the equipment that was filed Dec. 17 by Martinez’s attorney Michael Sheesley.
Martinez, who was appointed by Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. in July 2021, resigned in June along with Office of Management and Budget Director Jenifer O’Neal amid an FBI investigation into a contract between the V.I. Police Department and cybersecurity firm Mon Ethos Pro Support. Company founder David Whitaker, who has a long history of fraud, has since admitted to two counts of wire fraud and one count of bribery concerning federal programs receiving federal funds in a plea deal with prosecutors unsealed in September in V.I. District Court. He is currently due to be sentenced April 7.
The FBI investigation into the V.I. government’s contracts with Whitaker came to light in June, when agents seized the cellphones of Martinez and O’Neal, who was subpoenaed to testify regarding the VIPD contract with Whitaker, the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office said at the time.
According to his partially redacted plea agreement, Whitaker’s bribery charge concerns money and favors he gave to a VIPD official identified as “Public Official One” in return for payment of outstanding invoices under his cybersecurity contracts with the department.
The bribes included financial assistance to a restaurant owned by a person whose name is redacted, in return for making sure Whitaker’s company’s outstanding VIPD invoices would be paid. In all, Whitaker provided at least $66,000 worth of bribes, including the purchase of restaurant supplies and equipment, trips from St. Thomas to Boston, and payment of cash to the person’s family, his plea agreement states.
Martinez has not been charged with any crimes in connection with that or any other case. Sheesley declined to comment when contacted on Tuesday.
However, in the motion to return the property, Sheesley argues that the government failed to follow proper legal procedures in seizing the hood system — allegedly worth about $10,000 — and that it could have protected its interests to prevent the sale or unlawful use of the property by negotiating a bond for the same with the restaurant.
“Instead the United States seized the Hood System which damaged the Property — leaving a hole in the roof and causing the premises to suffer water damage,” it says.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has yet to respond to the motion to return the property. An FBI spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
