ST. CROIX — A federal judge has denied Calvert White’s request to serve his five-year prison sentence at a minimum-security facility in Alabama following the former Sports, Parks and Recreation commissioner’s bribery conviction last July.
District Judge Mark Kearney denied White’s emergency motion seeking to self-surrender to Federal Prison Camp Montgomery (FPC Montgomery) at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
Kearney denied the motion without prejudice “to renew after a meaningful meet and confer with all counsel,” allowing White to represent his position in his request, according to a court docket entry submitted Sunday. Kearney noted the court does not direct the Federal Bureau of Prisons as to custodial designations and can only recommend a designation for good cause.
White, through his attorney, Clive Rivers, filed an emergency motion on Saturday, requesting to self-surrender on March 2, at his own costs, to FPC Montgomery “to be closer to his family during imprisonment.”
Former Senator Celestino White Sr., Calvert White’s father, in a character reference letter submitted to Kearney ahead of his son’s sentencing, requested the extreme minimum sentence at the most extreme minimum-security facility if incarceration was required. He also asked that his son be permitted to self-surrender to the facility at his own monetary expense to prevent being held in Puerto Rico.
FPC Montgomery, an autonomous, self-sufficient unit on the base, houses offenders in a minimum-security environment in dormitory-style housing units divided into one- to three-man cubicles, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The dormitories are not locked, and there is no perimeter fence around the camp. The inmates are primarily serving sentences up to three years, and they have no records of serious assaults, no sustained medical or emotional problems, and were not convicted of sexual offenses.
Calvert White, who served as commissioner of the Virgin Islands Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation for five years, resigned after pleading not guilty on January 10, 2025 to federal bribery and wire fraud charges.
Calvert White and his co-defendant, government contractor Benjamin Hendricks, owner of A Clean Environment USVI LLC, were both found guilty on July 25, 2025 of honest services wire fraud and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds after a five-day jury trial. Calvert White solicited and accepted a $16,000 bribe from government witness David Whitaker, Mon Ethos Pro Support founder, in exchange for helping Whitaker secure a $1.43 million contract to install surveillance cameras in public parks while using Hendricks as an intermediary for the scheme.
Kearney sentenced Calvert White on Thursday to five years in prison. He sentenced Hendricks on the same day to five years and eight months in prison.
“The defendants’ convictions send a message: public corruption is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by our community,” U.S. Attorney Adam Sleeper said in a statement issued Friday.
Assistant Attorney General Andrew Tysen Duva, of the U.S. Department of Justice, said Calvert White rigged a public bid process in exchange for a bribe.
“He abused the trust of those who live in the community he was supposed to serve,” Duva said in a statement. “The Criminal Division will continue to prosecute government corruption. Such conduct undermines the integrity of our institutions at every level of government.”
Both defendants were also sentenced to supervised release for three years and must pay a $200 special assessment fee. Hendricks must pay a $5,000 fine.
Calvert White was not fined, but he must forfeit $5,000 in proceeds he obtained because of his violation of the law. Kearney filed an order today granting the government’s motion for preliminary forfeiture upon considering evidence from Calvert White’s sentencing hearing and his conviction on both counts charged.
