March 7, 2008 — After pleading guilty in 2006 to conspiracy and conflict-of-interest charges, former government aide and Global Resources Management principal Ohanio Harris was sentenced Thursday to one year in prison — six months of which will be served under house arrest.
Harris has also been sentenced to two years of supervised release and a $5,000 fine, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
A grand jury indictment in February 2004 charged Harris and five other people — including Campbell Malone, a former legislative post auditor, and St. Croix attorney Ashley Andrews — with forming GRM for the sole purpose of obtaining a fraudulent $3.6 million government contract to repair St. Croix's broken-down sewer system. At the time, Harris was special assistant to then-Gov. Charles W. Turnbull.
"Harris served as the president of Global Resources Management, a company owned and operated by Ashley Andrews," the release said. "GRM was a startup company with no experience in the repair of sewer systems; it had no capital, no equipment; it had no employees to perform work repairing the St. Croix sewer system. Nevertheless, GRM was awarded the $3.6 million contract by the Turnbull administration. Evidence at trial showed that the defendants intended to increase the final cost of the contract by three to four times the original $3.6 million cost."
A jury was unable to convict Malone and Andrews when the case originally went to trial in 2006. After visiting District Court Judge James Giles declared a mistrial in June 2006, Harris subsequently testified against his two co-conspirators. A jury later convicted Malone and Andrews on a number of charges, including filing a false claim against the V.I. government.
Harris' "substantial cooperation" with prosecutors led to his reduced sentence, the release said.
"The court noted at Harris' sentencing that public officials who are convicted of illegal conduct will be punished," the release said. "Nevertheless, those who 'do the right thing' and provide evidence concerning the illegal conduct will be given appropriate consideration in setting their sentence."
Malone has already been sentenced to 48 months in prison. Andrews is awaiting sentencing.
The U.S. Attorney's Office is asking residents with information on local government corruption to call the Public Corruption Hotline at 774-9296. Callers should be prepared to provide their contact information. All information reported will be provided to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which will work with local law enforcement entities such as the V.I. Attorney General's Office and Office of the V.I. Inspector General.
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