ST. CROIX — Attorney General-nominee Gordon Rhea discussed an ongoing review by his office of the federal investigation of convicted child rapist Alfredo Bruce Smith in a letter he wrote to Senator Marise James in response to her inquiry regarding why no actions have been taken against school officials who received reports about the sexual abuse but failed to act.
James, in a September 3 letter she sent to both Rhea and U.S. Attorney Delia Smith, raised concern regarding a lack of arrests or prosecutions of school officials who were aware of the sexual abuse perpetrated by Smith, a former track coach and school monitor at Charlotte Amalie High School.
James said by phone that she wrote the letter to the prosecutors after speaking to a parent of one of Smith’s victims.
“I received a call from a parent who said that nothing was done to the school officials, and she felt that she could not find closure in terms of justice being served,” she said.
Although the federal investigation into Smith has closed, Rhea indicated in a September 6 letter responding to the senator that he is not persuaded that every potential witness has been identified and questioned. He noted that he has set a further investigation in motion.
Under the supervision of St. Thomas/St. John District Deputy Attorney General Ian Clement, Rhea noted that St. Thomas/St. John District Criminal Chief H. Timothy Perry and agent Homer Inniss, of the DOJ’s Special Investigations Unit, are reviewing the work done to date and looking for new leads and opportunities overlooked or undervalued by the federal investigation. He indicated the DOJ would share with the authorities the fruits of its ongoing investigation.
Smith was sentenced to 35 years in prison in District Court on St. Thomas on April 26 after pleading guilty to all 20 counts charged against him in an indictment, including rape and production of child pornography. He admitted to sexually abusing 12 boys throughout the 15 years he worked at CAHS from 2006 until his arrest in 2021. Federal agents began investigating allegations against Smith after receiving reports that he inappropriately touched a minor during a school-sponsored track and field trip in March of 2019 in Puerto Rico.
During Smith’s sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Everard Potter said the mother of one of Smith’s victims complained to the CAHS principal in 2019, but nothing happened. Impact statements from a victim as well as the parent of a victim that were read into the record during sentencing both raised concerns that school officials “turned a blind eye.”
READ MORE: “Alfredo Bruce Smith gets 35 years in prison for raping boys, VIDE tight-lipped on investigation”
James, chair of the Committee on Education and Workforce Development, indicated in her letter that “this failure to act by school officials enabled the abuse to continue for 15 years, affecting countless students.” She noted it is imperative that the people of the Virgin Islands see that justice is served not only against the perpetrator but also against those who enabled his actions.
“The reasonable expectation is that those responsible for neglecting their duty to report the abuse are held accountable,” James wrote.
James requested for the DOJ and U.S. Attorney’s Office to provide her clarity on why no actions have been taken against the school officials, and what steps, if any, are being planned or taken to address this issue.
Rhea noted that he shared her concern that the responsible parties have not been held accountable. He indicated that federal investigators interviewed multiple school officials to include those who worked with Smith but that a lack of concrete evidence led the federal prosecutors to conclude there was insufficient probable cause to charge any school officials.
Rhea noted, however, that “Principal Edwards” was a chief suspect. He indicated that Edwards was told in 2018 that Smith had been seen taking the CAHS van at night to Magens Bay, where a boy was allegedly seen putting his pants on in the bushes. Alcede Edwards was principal of CAHS in 2018. Rhea noted that Edwards was also alleged to have received the complaint by the student who said Smith had assaulted him in Puerto Rico. Apparently, Edwards never followed up on that complaint, Rhea wrote.
While discussing the ability to locally charge school officials for failure to report suspected sexual abuse, Rhea wrote that most potential charges against the school officials are now time-barred by the statute of limitations. He pointed out the most pertinent sections that are found under Title 5 of the Virgin Islands Code provide that school personnel who suspect child sexual abuse must immediately report it, adding that failure to report is a misdemeanor that becomes a felony in cases involving human trafficking. He wrote that another section of the VI Code under Title 5 requires misdemeanor charges be brought within one year, and felony charges be brought within three years. He pointed out another possible charge under Title 14 of the VI Code provides that failure to report a case of child sexual abuse is a misdemeanor, noting that prosecution is again time-barred.
James said by phone that the statute of limitations is unfair to minors, adding that she has submitted a bill request as well as language for a proposed measure that would remove the statute of limitations.
“I am amending the statute of limitations so that there is no limitations on when a person may bring an action against someone who aided, abetted, enabled a perpetrator,” she said.
Unlike the failure to report statute, Rhea indicated that child abuse and child neglect do not have a statute of limitations bar. Given sufficient evidence, he wrote that those provisions could be used to charge culpable school officials. He reiterated that federal prosecutors concluded after a thorough investigation that they lacked probable cause to charge any school officials under these provisions.
“The investigation did not produce evidence that any official had actual knowledge, as opposed to mere suspicion, that Bruce was sexually abusing a child,” Rhea wrote. “These elements of the crime would have to be proven, with evidence and testimony, at trial.”
If the DOJ does not find sufficient evidence during its investigation to support criminal prosecution of school officials, Rhea pointed out that Charlotte Amalie High School and the Virgin Islands Department of Education still have available the means of censuring, disciplining, or otherwise administratively punishing school officials who they can demonstrate “turned a blind eye” to Smith’s transgressions.
The VI government has also conducted an investigation relating to how the VIDE handled complaints about sexual abuse of students, and the findings are expected to be publicly shared soon.
Governor Albert Bryan Jr. told reporters during a press conference Monday that the VIDE findings would be distributed to the media via a news release today. Richard Motta Jr., Government House spokesperson, confirmed late this afternoon that he was finalizing the news release. It had not yet been distributed as of the time of publication of this article.
