On September 25, at approximately 1:26 p.m., officers were notified of two vehicles' theft from the VI Department of Health's headquarters in Estate Richmond. The cars were carefully followed by officers and tracked by the VI Department of Property and Procurement utilizing GPS technology through Sion Hill, Sion Farm, and Peter's Rest. Both vehicles were recovered undamaged.
Officers arrested 25-year old Jeremy I. Allen, who admitted to taking one of the vehicles. He was charged with Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle. Bail for Allen was set at $50,000; however, he was unable to post bail, he was turned over to the Bureau of Corrections' custody pending his Advice of Rights hearing. The other suspect is still at large. The investigation into this incident continues.
The Department of Human Services (DHS) today announced that all parents and guardians of children, who attended schools that participated in the federally-funded School Lunch Program, need to call the P-EBT Hotline if they have not received the P-EBT card or cards for the 2019/2020 school year. The deadline for the issuance of benefits for the 2019/2020 school year is today.
The SNAP offices on St. Croix and St. Thomas said they still have unclaimed P-EBT cards in their offices. Cards were all mailed out to parents and guardians of eligible children as of September 15. However, some cards were returned as "undeliverable" to the SNAP offices, DHS said.
Take note of the following:
- If your child did not receive a card or if all your child(ren's) benefits were not loaded onto your current SNAP card, please immediately contact the P-EBT Hotline at (340)772- 7120 or email pebt@dhs.vi.gov.
- While the SNAP office will continue to work to resolve issues, no new issuances for the 2019/2020 school year can be made after this Monday, September 28.
- If you have been contacted to come to the SNAP offices to pick up a card(s), we urge you to come to the office and claim the benefits.
More testing sites have been added in the territory. Dr. Esther Ellis provides more details.
There is trenching work on St. Croix to install conduits, pull boxes, and fiber optic cables at Christiansted Bypass on St. Croix. The work is in progress from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., from today to October 17. Motorists can expect delays due to partial road closures and lane closures. Please exercise caution when traveling in these locations.