The legal woes of former Schneider Regional Medical Center chief Rodney Miller began anew this week when he was ordered to return to the Virgin Islands and appear in court.
Miller appeared Friday in Superior Court Magistrate Division on a warrant issued by the Office of the Virgin Islands Inspector General. The senior investigator for Inspector General Delia Thomas and the head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division represented the government at the Friday hearing.
Public defender Allaine Lockhart-Mollah entered not guilty pleas on Miller’s behalf. He is charged with violations of the Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, embezzlement, obtaining money under false pretense, conversion of government property, and making false claims upon the government.
Superior Court Magistrate Paula Norkadis said she was prepared to find probable cause for the charges listed on the arrest warrant, but Deputy Attorney General Quincy McRae asked the court to accept additional charges, based on information found in the probable cause fact sheet.
The magistrate called a one-hour recess to review the matter. When the hearing reconvened, Nokadis called for a hearing on the additional charges. Lockhart called the IG’s Senior Investigator Nick Peru to the witness stand.
She asked Peru to provide details related to the extra charges. When the question-and-answer session was done, the magistrate found probable cause on all additional counts.
Miller, along with the medical center’s former chief operating officer and chief financial officer, faced trial twice on CICO and related charges in 2011 and 2019. The first trial lasted six weeks and ended in a hung jury. In the 2019 retrial Miller, along with Amos Carty Jr. and Peter Najawicz, were found guilty.
All defendants appealed their convictions, and in 2022 the Virgin Islands Supreme Court dismissed the jury verdict. The justices issued an opinion saying Justice failed to prove there was criminal intent on the part of Carty.
Since then, Miller — the only defendant to prison time after the second trial — was released and left the territory. He returned this week from the U.S. mainland after receiving the warrant.
The case has been assigned to Superior Court Judge Denise Francois. A new trial date was not scheduled as of Friday.
