FREDERIKSTED — Is Virgin Islands Police Department “exempt” employee Anderson Poleon the highest paid person in the territorial government?
That’s the question concerned citizens in St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas are asking this afternoon.
If Anderson Poleon is the highest paid person at $333,150.00 — he is paid roughly three times what Governor Albert Bryan, Jr. is paid annually by the “Government of the Virgin Islands.”
Bryan only makes $125,000 per year.
And Poleon has distinguished himself in the VIPD as being an officer charged with taking a vehicle from the police impound lot and selling it in June of 2012.
Truth be told, as only the V.I. Freep does in the USVI and the larger Caribbean, Poleon makes almost as much by salary as United States President Donald Trump — Trump makes $400,000 per year.
OFFICIAL CORRUPTION IN BRYAN-ROACH ADMINISTRATION
Bryan’s hand-picked public information officer Gerry Yandel, formerly the executive editor of the Virgin Islands Daily News (St. Thomas daily newspaper) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Yandel puts out a podcast for the governor every week stating that the administration is “open and transparent,” … but it apparently doesn’t respond to direct questions from reporters.
“I think your readers would be interested to know that in 2019 the Virgin Islands Government payroll paid St. Croix Police Officer Anderson Poleon $333,150.00,” a person speaking on condition of anonymity told the Virgin Islands Free Press today. “What’s even more interesting is Poleon was in an exempt position and had a fixed salary of $72,850. Because he was in an exempt position, Officer Poleon was prohibited from earning overtime or even holiday pay so how is this possible?”
Poleon has apparently headed Bryan’s executive security detail since the former Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr. Labor Commissioner became chief executive of the territory.
In 2019, Poleon “unlawfully” submitted and was paid $260,300.00 in overtime on top of his $72,850.00 exempt salary, according to the whistle blower.
“This brought (Poleon’s) total take-home pay to $333,150.00 for the year,” the tipster said.
- Officer Anderson Poleon was the highest-paid employee in the VIPD in 2019 and may very well be the highest paid in the Virgin Islands Government.
- Officer Anderson Poleon was paid 358% more than that of a VIPD Chief.
- Officer Anderson Poleon was paid 289% more than a VIPD Police Commissioner.
- Officer Anderson Poleon was paid 266% more than the Governor he protects!
Any overtime submitted and paid to any person in the VI Government serving in an exempt position violates the law but set this aside for a moment.
“Let’s just say Poleon was allowed to submit overtime, how many hours a week would he have to work to make over $333,000?” the tipster wrote. “I’ve done the math and it’s close to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.”
Contained within the USVI Division of Personnel and Transparency Tyler Tech website are several VIPD Officers who have “suspect” payroll payments for 2019, but none are even close to Poleon.
“Don’t trust me. Look for yourself. It’s public information,” the unnamed source said.
http://transparency.tylertech.com/usvi/pages/Payroll%20Detail.aspx?PageView=Shared