Sabrina King Leonce Photo Credit: SABRINA KING LEONCE VIA FACEBOOK
Sabrina King-Leonce, who has been accused in a lawsuit against WAPA filed by whistleblower and WAPA employee for over 19 years, Rupert Pelle, of refusing to recuse herself from WAPA's attempt to purchase the old Bureau of Internal Revenue building in St. Thomas, even after it was known that her father, attorney Robert King was the person representing the seller, struck back on Thursday with a fiery response to the allegations. King-Leonce also filed a grievance against Mr. Pelle's attorney, Lee Rohn, with the Supreme Court's Office of Disciplinary Counsel, complaining that Ms. Rohn's actions had damaged her reputation.
Read the story here. King-Leonce's full statement, issued Thursday, is below:
Yesterday, Attorney Lee Rohn and her client Rupert N. Pelle viciously attacked my personal and professional life and reputation using distortions and outright lies to support a lawsuit against my employer. While I have not been named in the lawsuit as a defendant, their false claims are so egregious and have hurt me to such an extent that I am forced to give up my privacy to respond to these absurd claims.
To be clear, I am not a public figure—I am not some celebrity or elected official that wants the public eye. I am a single mother and human resources professional that works hard every day to teach my daughter honesty, integrity, and moral character through my conduct professionally and in my personal life. Now, Attorney Rohn has decided to use her immense public influence and the full force of her army of lawyers against me personally to score points in a lawsuit against my employer. Her letter to the press and the accompanying complaint, which has been spread far and wide across media platforms, is a collection of lies. She attempts to paint herself as a crusader for justice and ethics at WAPA, while she bullies a private citizen and expects her to simply accept it.
Not today.
Here is the truth. There is no salacious self-dealing or conflict of interest despite the baseless drivel contained within Attorney Rohn’s letter and complaint. Neither I, nor my father, has ever had any personal or financial interest in the sale or lease of the former IRB Building to WAPA. While my father has represented both WAPA and the owner of the former IRB building in the past on several legal matters, he is not representing either party in the transaction. Further, my father does not have power of attorney with respect to the lease or sale of the former IRB building. He has never had power of attorney. I never made such a claim, because it is not and has never been true. So, no conflict of interest exists. Any claim otherwise is a lie.
I was assigned to work on a task force to consider the transaction; however, I did not request the assignment. Then, immediately at the onset of considering the transaction, I informed WAPA’s CEO, CFO, CAO, General Counsel, and other members of the senior management team that my father has represented the seller in the past. (The CAO was none other than Rupert Pelle, Attorney Rohn’s client.) To avoid even an appearance of conflict, I informed the CEO that I was happy to step away from my assigned role in considering the real estate transaction, but was told that it is not necessary because there is no conflict.
Attorney Rohn’s lies extend so far that she claims I am one of WAPA’s lawyers. I am not a lawyer. I never attended law school. I am the human resources director of WAPA. A simple review of the Virgin Islands Bar Association membership list or a Google search would have easily revealed that. Instead, Attorney Rohn determined it more beneficial to her case to unethically concoct a false narrative of a corrupt WAPA lawyer.
What the Virgin Islands is seeing is lazy, underhanded, indecent and unethical lawyering by an attorney that thinks it more valuable to besmirch the reputation of a hard-working Virgin Islander than to win her case on the merits. Instead of researching the facts, and following the law, she is playing make believe in the press to taint the jury pool in favor for her asinine lawsuit. It is not unintentional that the press release from her office blatantly states that a jury trial is being demanded.
The impact of Attorney Rohn’s actions is already causing me harm. I am a private citizen like every other Virgin Islander. Yet, I am now being harassed and embarrassed by the media, and inundated with phone calls and text messages from community members. I am being slandered on local radio stations, on news websites and on social media. This is all because of complete lies made in a lawsuit filed and a letter sent by Attorney Rohn.
I make this statement today to correct the record, and also to inform you that I intend to pursue all legal remedies available to me for any libelous or slanderous statements made by any person against me, my family, or my reputation. This includes a bar grievance filed today against Attorney Lee Rohn with the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands’ Office of Disciplinary Counsel (attached).
Thank you to all who have expressed your genuine concern and support. I intend for this to be my last public statement.
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