Update: Jury to Resume Deliberations Friday in Fraud, Bribery Case of Calvert White, Benjamin Hendricks

Twelve Virgin Islanders are deciding whether to convict Calvert White, the former Sports, Parks and Recreation commissioner, and Benjamin Hendricks, his alleged accomplice, on charges of wire fraud and bribery.

The jury began deliberating at approximately 1:37 p.m. Thursday after hearing closing arguments from the U.S. Justice Department and from White and Hendricks’s respective attorneys, Clive Rivers and Darren John-Baptiste. Deliberations will resume Friday.

Over the course of a week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Conley said during closing, jurors had “delved deep” into the world of greed, corruption and backroom deals. Conley said White had a duty to the people of the Virgin Islands but that, unfortunately, it wasn’t worth much, “as his loyalty could be bought for $16,000.”

Conley rehashed the timeline of events that led White and Hendricks to be indicted by a federal grand jury in January for allegedly soliciting a bribe equal to one percent of a federally funded $1.6 million contract to install surveillance equipment at DSPR facilities across the territory.

The government cited a Dec. 28, 2023, phone call recorded by its cooperating witness, David Whitaker, who owned the cybersurveillance company Mon Ethos Pro Support at the time. During the call, White asked Whitaker if he’d had a chance to talk to “Benji.” Whitaker said he hadn’t yet.