ST. CROIX — Davidson and Sasha Charlemagne returned to District Court today for another arraignment on federal charges connected to the alleged theft of disaster relief program funds after the U.S. Attorney’s Office added new false claims counts tied to timesheets in a superseding indictment filed Tuesday.
The married couple arrived at District Court together to make their initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Emile Henderson III after the filing of the superseding indictment. They were advised of their rights before pleading not guilty on all charges.
The federal charges stem from a two-year investigation involving a three-year, $4.4 million contract with the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority for storage and management of wood that the Federal Emergency Management Agency shipped to the territory to be used for the reconstruction of commercial and residential buildings following the 2017 hurricanes.
Davidson Charlemagne’s company, D&S Trucking, allegedly stood to gain vastly inflated annual fees from VIHFA to store and manage the wood on St. Croix without rent at Alexander Henderson Elementary School, which is public property owned by the VI Department of Education, where Davidson Charlemagne worked as maintenance director. He was placed on leave without pay after his arrest.
While Davidson and Sasha Charlemagne pleaded not guilty to all charges in the superseding indictment, Darin Richardson’s initial not guilty plea stood since no new charges have been filed against him and his case has been severed from the Charlemagnes.
Richardson, former VIHFA chief operating officer, allegedly violated federal regulations by formally awarding the woodpile contract while also serving on the Bid Evaluation Committee as both duties are required to be undertaken independently of each other. Richardson faces a local charge of criminal conflict of interest and a federal charge of making materially false statements.
The federal government added nine counts in the superseding indictment accusing the Charlemagnes of making false claims upon the United States in 2021, 2022, and 2023 by allegedly submitting fraudulent timesheets indicating that Sasha Charlemagne had worked multiple eight-hour days at the woodpile site despite not being physically present in the territory.
Henderson advised both defendants separately of the charges filed against them, including those initially filed on October 18 on which they were previously arraigned.
READ MORE: “Charlemagnes plead not guilty to federal charges related to theft of disaster relief program funds”
In addition to the false claims counts, Davidson Charlemagne is also charged with fraud concerning programs receiving federal funds, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy, while his wife is also charged with money laundering conspiracy.
Attorney Pamela Colon is Sasha Charlemagne’s attorney. Attorney David Cattie is Davidson Charlemagne’s attorney. Colon represented both Charlemagnes during today’s hearing since Cattie was unavailable. Colon pointed out that Richardson was named on the superseding indictment even though his case has been severed and there were no substantive changes in terms of the underlying allegations against him.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rhonda Williams-Henry said all three defendants would be tried in accordance with the severance order, confirming that the U.S. government does not intend to try Richardson along with the Charlemagnes.
Attorney Darren John-Baptiste, who represents Richardson, participated in today’s hearing virtually along with his client. Although Richardson was scheduled to be arraigned pursuant to the superseding indictment, John-Baptiste pointed out that requiring his client to enter a new plea would restart the process and add more time before trial. Henderson asked the prosecutor if the government believed that it would be unnecessary to rearraign Richardson.
“It would appear that it’s not necessary,” Williams-Henry said.
Henderson agreed. Since the court granted the motion to sever Richardson’s case on September 18, Henderson said the request for a speedy trial within 70 days would make November 27 as the last day for his trial to begin. John-Baptiste said he was ready to go to trial. Williams-Henry asked the judge if he would set a trial date today, but Henderson said he must check the calendar to determine available dates.
Henderson set the Charlemagne’s trial date for December 9, but Colon indicated that she would file a motion to continue it.
