St. Thomas Man Who Took $170K From Father’s Business Gets 2 Years In Prison

CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A St. Thomas man who swindled his father’s business out of nearly $170,000 was given almost two years in prison by a federal judge — who also ordered him to make full restitution.

Lenroy Ravalier, Jr. was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Robert A. Molloy to serve 21 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $169,000, representing his ill-gotten gains from his commission of bank fraud, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert said.

According to public documents filed in the case, Ravalier Jr. forged checks in his father’s name totaling $303,000, and then moved much of the money through various accounts under his control. One of the accounts was opened strictly for the purpose of passing the stolen funds through the account.

A bank was able to intervene and recapture over $132,000 of the amount Ravalier Jr. stole but by then he had spent the remainder. Ravalier Jr. did not have authorization from the victim to take the funds described above or to write checks in the victim’s name.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nathan Brooks and Jill Koster.