CONARTIST WHO IMPERSONATED VARIOUS GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SENTENCED TO 33 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

District of Virgin Islands

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

 

CONARTIST WHO IMPERSONATED VARIOUS GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SENTENCED TO 33 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON

St. Thomas, USVI - United States Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert announced today that Yamini Potter, age 36, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for his convictions of Obtaining Money by False Pretenses and Obstruction of Justice.

According to court documents, from about May 2019 through October 23, 2020, the Defendant, acting as himself and others including federal Magistrate Judge Ruth Miller, former Virgin Islands Lieutenant Governor Osbert Potter, Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George, and retired federal Judge Curtis Gomez, contacted elderly victims requesting that they pay him large sums of money, which ultimately totaled over $100,000, to purportedly pay for lawyers and legal fees associated with various fictitious lawsuits. After the Defendant was arrested for his criminal conduct, he continued to use the Virgin Islands Bureau of Corrections telephone to contact victims of his fraudulent schemes on a recorded line. He also told the victims not to cooperate with the federal authorities in their investigation of the matter. He instructed the victims to delete text messages between himself and the victims.

The Defendant was sentenced to 33 months in prison, followed by 3 years supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $ 120,650 to the victims and a special assessment of $ 200.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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CONARTIST WHO IMPERSONATED VARIOUS GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SENTENCED TO 33 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON

Guardianship Now More Portable

If you are one of the 12,600 family caregivers in the Virgin Islands, you may be managing a loved one’s personal finances. Perhaps a Virgin Islands court has even appointed you as the person’s legal guardian. But what if you have to move away, or your loved one needs to go to a hospital on the U.S. mainland for medical care?

Guardianship just became more portable, with enactment of the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act. The law, backed by AARP, sets guidelines to determine which state or territory has jurisdiction in guardianship cases. It also provides a simple process to transfer noncontroversial guardianships between jurisdictions.

AARP has fought successfully to get similar laws passed in 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. For more information, go to aarp.org/vi.

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Guardianship Now More Portable

Bill in Legislature Will Recognize Guardianship in the Virgin Islands

Virgin Islanders can breathe a sigh of relief when Bill No. 31-0184 is enacted. That’s when individuals in the V.I. who are legal guardians will have the ability to maintain that Guardianship authority in other U.S. states that have also enacted Uniform Guardianship and Jurisdictional codes.

The bill, sponsored by Senators Janette Millin Young, Myron D. Jackson and Nereida Rivera-O’Reilly, is the Virgin Islands Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act. If passed, this legislation will formally detail the process whereby legal guardianship in the V.I. can be obtained and how that same guardianship authority can be recognized in other U.S. jurisdictions.

Guardianship, also known as conservatorship, is the legal transfer of authority for property and/or personal decision making when an individual is found to be incapable of managing his or her own affairs. Guardianships often involve minors, dependent adults or the elderly suffering from diseases impacting their mental faculties. When an adult is placed under guardianship, they may lose their basic civil liberties (right to vote, marry and make decisions about where they live, spend their money and medical treatment).

In recent times, the courts oversight of both protection for these rights and monitoring of the guardian’s performance of their duties have varied dramatically state by state. To improve the quality of protections offered by guardianship and to reduce the potential for abuse, states have begun adopting standards of practice and certification for professional guardians proffered by the Uniform Law Commission. States that ultimately adopt these uniform laws enable a Court’s decision in one state to be recognized in other participating states.

What will this mean for Virgin Islanders? The uniformity between jurisdictions that have adopted both the Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act and the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act (UAGPPJA) portion will streamline the legal recognition process in other states, reduce litigation costs and save valuable time. These three savings become critically important when decisions involving healthcare, for instance, are involved and time is of the essence.
When Bill No. 31-0184 is passed, the V.I. will join 42 other United States jurisdictions that share the same Guardianship and Guardianship Jurisdiction standards.

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Bill in Legislature Will Recognize Legal Guardianship in V.I.

VI Officials Ponder Uniform Guardianship Jurisdiction Legislation

One of AARP Virgin Islands most recent advocacy projects involves helping community opinion leaders and local legislators to appreciate the importance of adopting the national Uniform Law Commission’s Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act, also known as UAGPPJA.

In a nutshell, the legislation would establish three very basic legal premises that would be recognized by all other states who also adopted the UAGPPJA. First, it would determine which court has jurisdiction over a guardianship case. Next it would create a system where courts could communicate and formally recognize one state’s guardianship orders by another state or, in the Virgin Islands, territory. And, lastly, this new law would facilitate interstate transfers of guardianship cases when travel between jurisdictions would benefit the person under guardianship.

While many of us may feel that such a law seems straight forward and clear, history has proven that it isn’t. Too many times, some of the most vulnerable, incapacitated adults have become victims of battling family members wishing to exploit guardianship solely to gain control of the incapacitated person’s estate.

Like the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act, that preceded UAGPPJA, the law will recognize and protect the legal rights of the parent or guardian, providing legal consistency from one jurisdiction to another.

AARP VI feels that enactment of this law will help to prevent elder abuse, neglect and exploitation as well as help expedite medical care unavailable within the territory to be rendered without having to “re-establish” legal guardianship in the new jurisdiction.

During a two-day event, AARP VI first trained key AARP volunteers on the topic and then on the following day educated the President of the 30^th Legislature, a key Judge, attorneys from the public and private law sectors and officials from the Department of Human Services. All agreed that the adoption of the UAGPPJA will prove invaluable to the residents of the Virgin Islands, our legal system as well as  to others from other jurisdictions planning to interact with the territory.

Full Article and Source:
VI Officials Ponder Uniform Guardianship Jurisdiction Legislation