ST. THOMAS —The case against Delroy “Ital” Anthony, the St. Johnian culture bearer who was arrested after he refused to relocate his booth at St. John’s Food Fair in June, has been dismissed.
Department of Justice Criminal Chief H. Timothy Perry filed a statement of no prosecution the day before Anthony’s scheduled August 1 arraignment, which stated, “the People of the Virgin Islands elect not to pursue criminal charges against the defendant at this time.”
But the simple statement on the document fails to capture the maze of conflicting information from government officials that has defined this case since the very beginning.
As reported by WTJX, the altercation that led to Anthony’s arrest began when a Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation employee told Anthony he was occupying the wrong space. But Anthony refused to move, telling the police he had paid his vendor fee, received verbal confirmation from a Department of Tourism official, and occupied the same spot for years.
READ MORE: St. John culture bearer arrested and charged following disjointed Food Fair vendor placement process
Two days after he was arrested, Anthony and his partner, Margaret Garrett, sat in the Superior Court’s Magistrate Division awaiting his advice of rights hearing, both under the impression his case would be dismissed that day. Anthony said he had received a call from Kevin Rodriguez, the governor’s deputy chief of staff, following his release from jail.
“He basically say they apologize, and they’ll take care of it,” Anthony said when asked about the phone call, adding that Rodriguez indicated that DSPR should not have interfered as the Department of Tourism was responsible for the vending part of St. John Celebration.
So, both Anthony and Garrett were confused when prosecutors moved forward with the case. Instead of the dismissal they were expecting, Magistrate Judge Paula Norkaitis found probable cause to charge Anthony with disobeying a lawful order and interfering with an officer discharging his duties.
At this point, Anthony had received conflicting information from three government representatives.
First was Leona Smith, the assistant director of Festivals within the Department of Tourism, who Anthony says is the person who told him he could have his usual spot the week leading up to Food Fair. Smith denied this conversation took place, adding that her department has no say over vendor leases in the park when asked about the incident by WTJX.
Second was Kayla Fessale, the DSPR employee who called the police when Anthony refused to move, telling them she was responsible for issuing permits for DSPR and that Anthony did not have one for that spot.
Third was Kevin Rodriguez, the governor’s deputy chief of staff who Anthony said called to apologize and told him that Smith and the Department of Tourism took control of the park during Food Fair.
Rodriguez confirmed this in an interview following the case’s dismissal.
“Two weeks prior to the carnival, myself and Leona Smith had a conversation with the Sports, Parks and Recreation commissioner in reference to Tourism,” Rodriguez said. “Typically, Tourism would take over the park during the festival. So, it was agreed that the park is now under Tourism.”
Anthony and Garrett said they went to see Rodriguez at his office after the advice of rights hearing to figure out why the case didn’t get dismissed.
“He literally got on the phone and got to the head prosecutor, Mr. Perry I believe he is,” Garrett said, adding that she heard Rodriguez explain to Perry that Anthony should not have been arrested.
Rodriguez confirmed that he had reached out to the Department of Justice to try and resolve the situation. When asked if this was done at the request of Governor Albert Bryan Jr., Rodriguez said it was not.
Despite the dismissal, Anthony says he still hasn’t been able to put the incident behind him.
“I still traumatized,” he said. “I still feel a psychological effect from this.”
Moving forward for Anthony will require a couple things to happen, including a public apology from the different officials involved in the incident and a refund for the $125 vendor’s fee he paid to participate in the Food Fair.
“We need some accountability too, man,” he said. “We need people to step up to the plate and be honest. I hope it never happen to anybody else. I wish this on nobody.”
