Editor’s Note: This report is part of a Source series on transparency in the Virgin Islands. Each story highlights both the issues at hand and the obstacles the Source has encountered in obtaining timely and complete public information, including questions over what is public under Virgin Islands law. By documenting these challenges, the series underscores why access to accurate records matters — for accountability, for community trust, and for understanding how decisions affect daily life in the territory.
For this first part which includes sensitive information provided by victims of abuse and assault, the Source has changed the names of those involved to protect their privacy.
“It could have been worse,” Suzie said in a call with the Source Thursday, recalling an incident with then E. Benjamin Oliver Elementary teacher Clifton Boyd. She said it happened around 2012, while she was completing community service on campus. Stopping by to say hello, she found herself alone with him for the first time.
She described what happened next as an involuntary hug that “felt like he was trying to keep me in the room longer.”
“He had his chest against my chest, his hands on my body, and his penis against my leg,” she said, remembering her immediate discomfort.
Suzie said she reported the incident in a meeting with then-principal Lois Hassell-Habtes, along with another male administrator. She said Habtes encouraged her to press charges, and was surprised when the male administrator present remarked, “this is not the first time I heard something like this about him.” Suzie said she heard nothing more afterward and let it go as she prepared to leave for college. Up to that point, Boyd had treated her, she said, like a father figure — someone many students respected.
Some time later, Suzie brought up his name in a conversation with her sister Nan. She asked whether Nan thought Boyd might be a pedophile. “I noticed she tensed up,” Suzie recalled.
Nan had her own story. Speaking to the Source by phone this week, she described a camping trip held at Cinnamon Bay that was tied to Boyd’s summer program, Brighter Writers. Nan, then 17 and a camp counselor, said the group had taken part in a nighttime beach walk, as they usually did, before she later sat outside Boyd’s tent with him and his wife. When Mrs. Boyd went to bed, Boyd asked Nan to walk with him.
“We walked all the way to the rocks at the end of the beach, mostly in silence,” she said. “We were sitting and looking at the stars when he suddenly asked me if I ever wanted to kiss him. I was confused and I instantly felt uncomfortable. I clarified that I saw him like a father when I saw him shaking his head. He went on to tell me that his feelings were romantic and insisted that I felt the same way, even though I said I didn’t.”
As they walked back, Nan said Boyd kept stopping to give her long, drawn-out hugs. At one point, he mentioned sex but told her, “That would come later,” as if it were bound to happen. “I did not feel safe,” she said, explaining she thought about running or yelling, but they were too far from the campsite for anyone to hear her. Back at camp, she tried to avoid him, but the behavior allegedly continued.
After summer camp ended, she said Boyd began calling her house in the middle of the night, showing up at her home when she didn’t answer, and even appearing at her job. “Looking back, it was all part of a grooming process,” she said. “He was persistent, he crossed boundaries, and he didn’t stop even when I said no.”
Nan alleges that Boyd also sent verbal messages to her through her nephew — who attended EBO after she moved on from high school — as a messenger.
Years later, after returning from winter break, Suzie was in the morning line at Bowsky Elementary, dropping off her daughter, when she saw Boyd standing there. His career had carried him across the district, from Julius Sprauve School on St. John to Joseph Gomez Elementary, among others. Seeing him in front of a new group of children was triggering.
She asked what he was doing there. “I work here,” he finally said after a pause.
The sight of him, she said, led her to request meetings — first with the school’s principal, and later with St. Thomas-St. John Superintendent Stephan Jurgen and his deputy. She said that when she raised her concerns, officials told her her childhood report had gone nowhere because no police complaint was ever filed.
This month, Boyd was suspended after new claims emerged — this time from a high school student on St. Thomas, who alleged that Boyd abused him years earlier while he was in elementary school at Gomez. In a statement issued late last Sunday night, the Education Department confirmed it was reviewing sexual abuse allegations tied to past incidents and said personnel changes had been made “to maintain the integrity, effectiveness, and transparency of our operations.” The department said it was fully cooperating with authorities while stressing the need to protect the privacy of those involved.
Education Commissioner Dionne Wells-Hedrington also confirmed to the Source that both the Virgin Islands Police Department and Human Services were working alongside the department to investigate.
“As noted, the matter has been reported to VIPD and assigned to an investigator. This matter is sensitive and can become complex; thus, we cannot provide any further updates at this time. As soon as the department can give more information, it will,” VIPD officials said earlier this week when asked by the Source whether Boyd had been reported or charged previously.
Meanwhile, looking into reports that Boyd allegedly told the student that Gomez’s principal “knows” and would not do anything about it, the Source has confirmed Boyd had been previously reported by that principal, but the outcome of a subsequent Division of Personnel hearing into those claims, or others, remains unclear.
The Source also asked Personnel this week for records showing how many times Boyd had been reported, the outcomes of those cases, and the timeframes involved. A Personnel spokesperson replied immediately to each inquiry, with the division’s legal counsel ultimately saying they were directed to send such inquiries to Government House Chief of Staff Kevin Williams, as Government House had taken over handling a surge of media questions.
After calls to Government House on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the Source was referred back to Personnel. Meanwhile, Government House Communications Director Richard Motta said Monday he was not aware of such a directive but would check, though multiple follow-up calls throughout the week went unanswered.
Without answers from other officials, the Source reached out directly to Gov. Albert Bryan Jr., who acknowledged the questions in a series of text exchanges beginning Monday and has attempted to clarify what records can be released under the Sunshine Act and other sections of Virgin Islands Code, while noting that the legal boundaries are not always clear. Bryan also confirmed that some investigations remain pending, including a review tied to the case of Alfredo Bruce Smith.
Smith, a former Charlotte Amalie High School coach and hall monitor, was sentenced in 2024 to 35 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of child sexual exploitation. Federal prosecutors found that his abuse spanned nearly 15 years and involved numerous victims. In the wake of Smith’s conviction, the Virgin Islands Justice Department confirmed that its Special Investigations Unit had launched a review into whether local authorities or school officials failed to act on earlier complaints. Prosecutors said they were considering whether to hold accountable those who did not report suspected abuse, but no findings have yet been released.
“The report has not yet been completed as we are awaiting the U.S. Attorney’s Office to turn over their interviews and other pertinent records,” Bryan told the Source. Emails and texts sent to Attorney General Gordon Rhea about the status of the report went unanswered this week.
The uncertainty around both cases has highlighted broader concerns about accountability and transparency in the territory’s schools. A March 2023 report commissioned from the John Praed Foundation reached similar conclusions, finding that child abuse reporting protocols were inconsistent and often left to individual interpretation.
Human Services Communications Director Ryan Nugent told the Source Friday that, in response to the Praed Report, his department worked with Education to adopt stronger procedures. Under Virgin Islands law (5 V.I.C. § 2534), all suspected cases must be reported immediately to police or Human Services. Nugent said the agencies developed a Mandatory Reporting Policy, created a revised referral form, and resumed staff training to ensure teachers and administrators understand their legal obligations.
“We do have a multidisciplinary team effort,” Nugent said. “Anyone can and should report sexual abuse to VIPD, though the Education Department should investigate if a student or staff member makes a report or claim with them, whether they have gone to the police or not. From there, if we get a referral, we would investigate and send our social workers to respond.”
As of this week, questions remain about the number of complaints lodged against Boyd, the findings of prior personnel hearings, and how information is shared between agencies. For now, the suspension stands while multiple investigations continue.
St. Croix Source
Local news, Uncategorized
