St. Croix, V.I. – Atty General Denise George today announced that formal charges were filed with the Superior Court of the V.I. for 36-year-old, Daniel Cove. Cove, a registered sex offender was arrested and charged with failure to register as a sex offender. He was arraigned and advised of his rights on October 11, 2019 at the V.I. Superior Court. A motion was granted for bail with the following conditions: unsecured bond of $15,000; be released to the Village to complete the inpatient treatment program that he is currently in; upon release from the village in the next two months another motion must be filed to modify his pretrial release conditions.
Registered sexual offenders in the territory may be prosecuted 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 nor more than $2,000.00, or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.
According to information filed detailing the arrest, Cove was arrested by Superior Court Marshals on Thursday, October 10th at 11:45am, in the vicinity of the Superior Court, although it was once reported that the arrest occurred at the Village Rehabilitation Center in Sion Hill, St. Croix. Mr. Cove was a client of the center, however, once representatives there became aware that he had a warrant out for his arrest, they informed him that he could not be in their care as a fugitive. He was then transported to the probation office by his therapist where he turned himself in and was promptly arrested.
Cove was convicted on June 23, 2002, of indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14 in Massachusetts and sentenced to prison. After his release in 2013, he moved to the Virgin Islands and registered as a Tier2 sex offender. He was therefore required to register every six months for 25 years. Cove was then arrested in 2016 on St. Croix, for failing to update his sex offender registration. His last known verification date was August 29, 2018. Cove’s location was therefore unknown as Investigators from the V.I. Department of Justice were actively searching for him.
A team of Special Agents from local and federal agencies, routinely conduct unannounced inspections of registered sexual offenders for the purpose of verifying their locations and other personal information, such as their work and home addresses. Within three business days of arriving at a new location, a registered sexual offender must notify the DOJ of his/her name, residence, temporary lodging information, vehicle information, Internet identifiers, telephone numbers, school information and employment status. In 1997, the Virgin Islands enacted its first sex offender registration statute and in 2006, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 was enacted by Congress. Title I of that Act is known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act or SORNA. This Act established a new baseline standard for states to track sex offenders, which required more unity and cooperation among jurisdictions in the registration and notification process.
On July 18, 2012, amendments were made to the local sex offender statute and the Sexual Offender Registration and Community Protection Act was signed into law in the Virgin Islands.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 23, 2019
Sandra Goomansingh
Media Relations Director
(340) 774-5666 ext. 10105
Email: sandra.goomansingh@doj.vi.gov