BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - The Virgin Island Daily News newspaper and the Virgin Islands Source website are reporting that husband and wife, Lauritz and Frank Mills are charged with two counts of filing false income tax return forms for 2004 and 2005.
The wife of Dr. Mills, Lauritz Mills, who also heads the Bureau of Economic Research in the Virgin Islands, pleaded not guilty Wednesday (June 9) to a fraud and embezzlement charge stemming from a September 2009 audit report questioning the agency's management of some federal funds. Mrs. Mills has declared that the audit report from which the charges stem are "unfair and incorrect."
A statement issued Wednesday by U.S. Attorney Ronald Sharpe and Special Agent in Charge Rhonda Diffenbach of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division, reported that a federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment on May 17 charging Lauritz Mills with theft of federal program funds while she worked at the bureau.
In addition, Lauritz and Frank Mills are charged with two counts of filing false income tax return forms for 2004 and 2005.Both have pleaded not guilty.
According to court officials, the couple was released on an unsecured $50,000 bail -- on condition that they surrender their travel documents and request permission from the court to leave the territory.
Husband, Frank Mills, Ph.D. is Professor of Social Sciences and Director of the Eastern Caribbean Center at the University of the Virgin Islands, and was appointed census manager of the USVI 2010 Census of Population and Housing.
He was also designated Chairman of the CFB College Board of Governors by the Government of St. Kitts Nevis in 2009.
