Police say US Virgin Islands senator tried to strangle girlfriend, 19; judge approves charges

Police: USVI senator tried to strangle girlfriend

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands — A prominent territorial senator was charged Friday with pulling a gun on a 19-year-old woman and trying to strangle her.

Senator Adlah “Foncie” Donastorg Jr., 47, dropped his head when the judge announced he had found probable cause for the charges of aggravated assault and battery, third-degree assault, brandishing a weapon and using a weapon in a crime of violence.

Donastorg’s attorney, Gordon Rhea, argued that someone bribed the woman to make the allegations against Donastorg, who ran unsuccessfully for governor of the U.S. Caribbean territory in 2006 and was chairman of the legislature’s finance committee.

“My client asserts that he is innocent and looks forward to a trial at which he will prove the charges brought against him are false,” Rhea said after the hearing, which was attended by Donastorg’s wife.

Conviction on all the charges would carry a penalty of at least eight years in prison.

Police say a woman they described as Donastorg’s girlfriend told them that he pulled a gun on her on Jan. 28 and told her he would shoot her if she did not leave his yard. Police said Donastorg then got into a car with the woman and tried to strangle her. The woman’s name was not released.

Detective Deborah Jack testified that the victim called her and asked that the charges be dropped shortly after officers contacted the senator and advised him of the investigation.

She said police are still investigating allegations that the woman received a $150,000 bribe to bring false allegations against Donastorg.

Judge Alan Smith ordered Donastorg to give up his weapons, despite Rhea’s argument that he should keep them because they were licensed.

Donastorg is married and has six children, according to the legislature’s Web site.