Tuesday, December 13, 2016
VIRGIN ISLANDS
Prosecutors: white powder letters contained hoodoo curse
By SUZANNE CARLSON Daily News Staff
A woman facing federal criminal charges for mailing letters contain- ing white powder was attempting to place a hoodoo curse on her ene- mies, according to court documents filed by prosecutors in the case.
Eugenia Winston, who is facing 32 counts of mailing threatening communications, placed “hotfoot” powder into envelopes containing subpoenas that she mailed to wit- nesses set to testify against her in a civil lawsuit against her former employer, Scotiabank, according to court documents.
Hoodoo, also known as “root- work,” is a traditional African American folk spirituality that de- veloped from a number of West African spiritual traditions and be- liefs.
The detail came in prosecutors’ opposition to Winston’s motion to suppress all of her statements to au- thorities, which was filed Monday.
Winston has been free on unse- cured bond since Sept. 1, and her civil lawsuit against Scotiabank al- leging employment discrimination and harassment has been placed on hold until the criminal case against her is resolved.
At a detention hearing on Sept. 1, Federal prosecutor Chris Fisanick said Winston’s actions were a clear threat intended to terrorize the re- cipients of the letters, and made ref- erence to the 2001 anthrax attacks.
Postal Inspector Eric Oram said at the hearing that the substance was determined to be nontoxic and was likely baby powder, cornstarch, or a similar substance.
Winston’s attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Gabriel Villegas, argued that Winston is the victim of an unfortunate mis- understanding, and she accidentally spilled body powder over and into the envelopes.
However, Monday’s filing by federal prosecutors paints a slight- ly different picture of Winston’s
Hoodoo, also known as “rootwork,” is a traditional African American folk spirituality that developed from a number of West African spiritual traditions and beliefs.
actions.
“Winston mailed over 30 en- velopes that contained ‘hotfoot’ powder and subpoenas to various individuals in the Virgin Islands. Hotfoot powder is a hoodoo curse designed to prevent witnesses from appearing in court to testify,” ac- cording to the filing.
“Hotfoot” powder is a hoodoo practice of mixing various ingre- dients — often some combination of cayenne pepper, Sulphur, copper sulphate, cornstarch and other ele- ments — which is believed to drive away enemies. Commercial ver- sions of the powder also are avail- able for sale online.
Recipients of Winston’s letters were mainly witnesses who might testify against Winston in her law- suit against Scotiabank, and also in- cluded U.S. Magistrate Judge Ruth Miller, the legal counsel for Scotia- bank and Winston’s former counsel in her suit against Scotiabank, ac- cording to prosecutors.
Because the envelopes had a return address of the U.S. Court- house on St. Thomas, “despite the fact that Winston was serving these subpoenas herself,” some of the en- velopes that could not be delivered were returned to the courthouse and opened by staff there, according to prosecutors.
“Believing the powder to be an- thrax or some other deadly biologi- cal toxin, the United States Court- house was evacuated and closed;
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the employees in the courthouse who were exposed to the powder were quarantined for hours,” ac- cording to the filing.
The incident caused significant disruption at the courthouse and at the private law office of attorney Bennett Chan near the West Indian Co. cruise ship dock.
“The purpose of lacing these en- velopes with hotfoot powder was to instill fear and intimidation in the witnesses to prevent their testify- ing against Winston,” according to prosecutors’ filing.
The filing does not indicate how authorities determined the sub- stance in the envelopes was hotfoot powder or what ingredients were in the powder.
Winston admitted to FBI in- vestigators shortly after the enve- lopes were received that she was the sender. But Villegas has filed a motion to suppress all of her state- ments to law enforcement, saying she was not properly advised of her right to avoid self-incrimination.
But prosecutors shot back in Monday’s filing, saying there is no evidence in a video-recorded inter- view with Winston that authorities did not properly advise her of her rights or attempt to intimidate her to give a statement in any way.
Villegas wrote in his motion that “the videotaped interview speaks for itself.”
However, prosecutors wrote that “the most cursory view of Winston’s video recorded interview with law enforcement agents establishes be- yond cavil that Winston was never coerced, was properly and repeat- edly advised of her rights, and consciously waived those rights,” according to Monday’s filing. “The first thirty seconds of the interview wholly defeats Winston’s meritless motion.”
Winston is scheduled to go to trial on Jan. 11 before U.S. District Judge Juan Sanchez.
— Contact Suzanne Carlson at 340-714-9122 or email scarlson@ dailynews.vi.
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