Police officers and employees of the Medical Examiner’s Office in Estate Dorothea, where 49-year-old Bill John-Baptiste was found dead of gunshot wounds. Photo Credit: VIPD PHOTO / DANNY DERIMA / CLEAR TOUCH IMAGING
ST. THOMAS — A former V.I. Port Authority officer was found dead with multiple gunshots wounds in Estate Dorothea during the wee hours of Tuesday morning, announced V.I.P.D. Public Information Officer Toby Derima.
According to the news release, on Tuesday at approximately 4:51 a.m., the 911 Emergency Call Center received a call of a man down in Estate Dorothea, in the vicinity of the dumpsters. It was unclear whether the victim was shot at the dumpsters, or whether he was taken there after being killed. Mr. Derima said he would provide an update once available.
Officers traveled to the area and found an unresponsive Black male with multiple gunshot wounds. Emergency Medical Technicians on the scene made a check of the victim and found no signs of life, Mr. Derima said.
The victim was identified as Bill John-Baptiste, 49, who once worked as an officer of the V.I. Port Authority, and from 2008 was embroiled in a public corruption case involving two former V.I. police officers, Francis Brooks and Enid Edwards. John-Baptiste received a five-year sentence in 2012 for kidnapping, while the two police officers faced well over a dozen charges, including robbery, extortion and drug trafficking.
According to the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Edwards and Brooks were convicted of operating a Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) enterprise whose members and associates conspired to conduct or participate in the enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity which included extortion, bribery, kidnapping, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and extortion related crimes under the Virgin Islands Code.
The U.S. D.O.J. said Edwards also was convicted of structuring under federal law. Evidence presented at trial established that from 2000 through 2009, the activities of Edwards and Brooks, in their capacity as VIPD officers, included extorting drug traffickers for money in exchange for avoiding arrest, as well as selling and acquiring illegal narcotics to and from local drug traffickers; engaging in kidnapping in relation to extortion of private citizens; and providing counterfeit documents in exchange for money.
St. Thomas-St. John District Chief of Police Steven Phillip is encouraging the community to come forward with information by calling 911, the Criminal Investigation Bureau at (340) 774-2211, or anonymously and confidentially to Crime Stoppers USVI at (800) 222-TIPS. You can get a reward for your tip that leads to an arrest.
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