U.S. Virgin Islands – V.I. Attorney General Ariel Smith has announced that 65-year-old Robert S. Bastian, a registered sex offender, was arrested by V.I. Dept. of Justice (VIDOJ) Special Agents (SID), and the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) unit on St. Thomas. Bastian was arrested for failure to comply with registration requirements for sex offenders in the Virgin Islands.
Bastian is a Tier 3 registered offender who failed to update and appear on January 05, 2024, at the VIDOJ or any time thereafter, to update his registration information, as required by law. VIDOJ agents arrested Bastian on January 29th at his residence in Hospital Ground, without incident.
Bastian appeared in V.I. Superior Court on January 30th before Honorable Magistrate Judge Paula D. Norkaitis. Judge Norkaitis found probable cause to charge Bastian with Failure to Register as a Sex Offender V.I.C. § 1722. A $10,000 bond was paid by Bastian however, his defense attorney requested that a secure bond of $5,000 be returned to him. Judge Norkaitis allowed half that bond of $10,000; $5,000 to be returned to Bastian. Judge Norkaitis also stated that Bastian must register at the DOJ office on the 5th of every 3 months as scheduled, failure to do so will result in his arrest.
Bastian was convicted in V.I. Superior Court in August 2002, for the crime of Unlawful Sexual Contact 1st Degree, Kidnapping. Pursuant to Chapter 86, Section 1722 of Title 14 of the V.I. Code Bastian is required to register as a sex offender with the Virgin Islands Dept. of Justice (VIDOJ) and keep his registration current. He is registered as a Tier 3 sex offender and therefore required to appear once every 90 days from his initial registration date throughout his lifetime.
A team of Special Agents from the VIDOJ and Sexual Offender Registry (SORNA) unit, with the assistance of U.S. Marshals and other local and federal agencies, routinely conducts unannounced inspections of registered sexual offenders to verify their locations and other personal information, such as their work and home addresses. The Attorney General/VIDOJ is legally mandated to administer and enforce the sex offender registration laws. A registered sexual offender must notify the VIDOJ of his/her name, residence, temporary lodging information, vehicle information, Internet identifiers, telephone numbers, school information, and employment status. Registered sexual offenders in the territory are prosecuted by the Attorney General for either failing to register or not keeping their registration current, as required by this law, and if convicted, the penalty is a fine of not less than $3,000.00 nor more than $5,000.00, or imprisonment for not less than three months nor more than two years, or both. The law also provides that it is an offense to assist a sex offender to evade the registration requirements, which carries a fine of not less than $1,000.00 or more than $2,000.00, or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.
The sex offender registry is available for public view at https://usvi.nsopw.gov.
