ST. CROIX — A Superior Court jury found Department of Human Services employees Doenyka Lewis and Shanoya Hendrickson not guilty on all counts Tuesday, ending the first trial in the territory’s $309,000 Medicaid fraud case with acquittals after the judge repeatedly questioned the prosecution’s evidence.
Jurors acquitted Lewis, an eligibility specialist, after about three hours of deliberations, and Hendrickson, an acting supervisor, after about five hours. Both were found not guilty of Medicaid fraud, fraudulent claims upon the government, access to a computer for fraudulent purposes, and embezzlement or falsification of public records.
“Today, justice prevailed,” attorney Mike Haas, who represents Lewis, said after the verdict. “I think the jury took their time, considered all the evidence, and found my client Doenyka Lewis not guilty. I think it’s the right verdict, and it’s just a great day for justice.”
Prosecutors had alleged that Hendrickson moved her four children onto her mother’s Medicaid account even though the children lived with her, and that Lewis processed the paperwork. The second amended complaint, the charging document, alleged unlawful Medicaid payments of approximately $28,398.59 for Hendrickson and approximately $13,778.85 for Lewis.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Nicholas Ostrem, who declined to comment on the verdict.
Attorney General Gordon Rhea briefly commented.
“The jury heard evidence and made decisions,” he said.
Rhea did not comment when asked for his reaction to the prosecution’s inability to get any exhibits admitted into evidence, or whether Ostrem would continue to prosecute the upcoming Medicaid fraud trials. Ostrem struggled with technology and with getting exhibits admitted into evidence on the trial’s first day.
READ MORE: First DHS Medicaid fraud trial opens with evidence fights, co-defendant takes plea deal
Judge presses Ostrem on the evidence:
After the government rested Tuesday, Haas and Hendrickson’s attorney, Renee Dowling, moved for judgment of acquittal under Rule 29, which asks a judge to end a case before it goes to the jury when the evidence is not enough to convict. They argued that no witness identified the defendants, that prosecutors never established the alleged acts occurred on St. Croix, and that there was no evidence of the dollar amounts charged.
Morris asked what evidence had been presented on the $13,778.85 attributed to Lewis and the $28,398.59 attributed to Hendrickson. Ostrem said he tried to introduce evidence and was rebuffed and overruled at every turn. Morris responded that he ruled that way because the evidence was not introduced in a way that made it admissible.
By the end of the trial, the prosecution had not gotten a single exhibit admitted into evidence, relying entirely on witness testimony.
The judge also asked what evidence showed the defendants had been identified. Ostrem said witnesses specifically talked about them, but Morris pointed out that Ostrem never asked any witness to point them out in the courtroom.
Ostrem won one point: when Morris said there was no testimony that the defendants were “public officers,” Ostrem maintained the testimony established they were “public employees,” and the judge agreed. Morris reserved ruling on the motions. The defense rested without calling witnesses, and the case went to the jury after closing arguments and jury instructions.
The prosecution team:
The case was originally prosecuted by Acting Deputy Attorney General Patricia Lynn Pryor, director of the Department of Justice’s White-Collar Crime and Public Corruption Unit, who signed the original and amended charging documents and filed a notice of appearance on February 4, according to Superior Court records. On August 4, the Department of Justice filed a notice substituting Ostrem as counsel of record for the government. Ostrem filed the second amended complaint that split the case into separate trials on August 21. Dellon Dellop, the department’s acting Criminal Division chief on St. Croix, entered an appearance as co-counsel on November 5, four days before trial. Dellop appeared in court with Ostrem on the first day of trial Monday but did not address the court, and he was absent during Tuesday’s proceedings.
Ostrem joined the Virgin Islands Department of Justice after a legal career in the Washington, D.C., area, where much of his work involved special education cases. According to his LinkedIn profile, he earned his law degree from Barry University’s Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law in 2008. He then worked as an associate attorney at Tyrka & Associates and at James E. Brown & Associates, a firm that represented parents of children with disabilities in disputes with D.C. Public Schools. He founded The Ostrem Firm, a solo practice in Arlington, Virginia, in 2013. Federal court records list him as counsel in special education cases against the District of Columbia.
Tuesday’s testimony:
Earlier Tuesday, Medicaid eligibility specialist Aisha Perinon, a prosecution witness, testified under cross-examination by Haas that Lewis did not process Perinon’s mother’s application and removed Perinon’s children only at the request of her boss. Asked by Dowling whether she knew it was wrong to add her children to her mother’s account, Perinon said she was told it was fine, and when asked whether it was common in the office, she said, “apparently so.”
On redirect, Perinon told Ostrem that Hendrickson said a letter would allow her to transfer her children and that it was a “common practice.”
Senator-elect Lisa Charles, a Human Services employee who was eligibility supervisor of the Medicaid office from 2018 to 2023, testified that she trained Hendrickson and Lewis on removing and transferring dependents. Under cross-examination, she told Haas she had a “great” working relationship with Lewis and described her as reliable and truthful.
Dowling questioned Charles about a complaint Hendrickson made against her to the department, asking whether Charles had received a letter about allegedly brandishing her firearm in the office.
“That’s what they say,” Charles responded, adding that she understood it was Hendrickson who made the allegation.
Shanavia Martin, a special agent with the Virgin Islands Department of Justice, testified that she investigated Lewis, Hendrickson and Hendrickson’s mother, Karen Blyden, and that the investigation remains ongoing. Martin said she tried to interview Hendrickson and interviewed Lewis twice.
What comes next:
Lewis remains a defendant in two more of the five scheduled trials, set for December 7 with Shantenysha Victor and her husband, Akim Davis, and February 1, 2027, with Clarissa Nunez and her mother, Carmen Saldana-Nunez. Haas told the court Tuesday that he would file a motion raising double jeopardy concerns about those trials. Double jeopardy is the constitutional protection against being tried twice for the same offense.
Blyden, who was charged with Lewis and Hendrickson, signed a plea agreement dated October 29 to plead guilty to one count of fraudulent claims upon the government.
The remaining trials are Lisa Minelli Montanez and Shane Gaston, who has a child with Montanez, on March 15, 2027, and Kenera Frederick and her mother, Sharon Henry, on April 19, 2027.
