From left to right: Calvert White and Benjamin Hendricks, found guilty of federal wire fraud and bribery, now seeking a new trial. Photo Credit: WTJX.
Last updated at 9:22 a.m. on Tues. Sept. 16, 2025.
Sentencing for former Sports, Parks and Recreation Commissioner Calvert White has been postponed until January 22, 2026, while the court considers motions for a new trial. The same date is expected for co-defendant contractor Benjamin Hendricks, though the court is still awaiting word from Hendricks’s attorney.
White and Hendricks were convicted in July of honest services wire fraud and bribery concerning a program receiving federal funds. The jury accepted testimony from key government witness David Whitaker, who said he funneled money through Hendricks to White in exchange for favorable treatment of his company’s bid for a security camera contract.
Attorneys for both defendants are now arguing that trial judge Mark Kearney overstepped his authority during deliberations. They claim that he gave jurors a definitive answer on a matter of fact that should have been left to them.
That argument was first raised formally on August 8, when White’s attorney, Clive Rivers, filed a motion seeking a new trial. Hendricks’s attorney, Darren John-Baptiste, filed to join the request. The motion asserted that “the trial judge invaded the province of the jury when it answered a question of fact although there was sufficient evidence to establish an inquiry that was for the jury to decide.” It further argued, “The existence and effect of certain communications presented a factual question that was decided by the trial court instead of the jury,” which attorneys say violated the rules of evidence.
The motion did not specify which factual question was at issue. Rivers asked for a 30-day extension to file a memorandum of law, customary until attorneys obtain the trial transcript. Earlier Consortium reporting noted that jurors had asked Judge Kearney during deliberations whether communications sent through servers outside the Virgin Islands counted as wire transactions under federal law. Over objections from the defense, Kearney instructed that text messages, phone calls, and emails met the definition of wire communications, though he did not rule on whether those communications satisfied the interstate commerce requirement under the wire fraud statute.
In an order issued Monday, Judge Kearney pushed the sentencing hearing back from December 2 to January 22, 2026. The nearly eight-week delay gives him time to decide whether his instructions during deliberations provide sufficient grounds for a new trial.
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