DISTRICT COURT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS 
DIVISION OF ST. THOMAS AND ST. JOHN 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
Plaintiff, 
v. 
TERON STEVENS, 
Defendant. 
 
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Crim. No. 2018-18 
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Appearances: 
Gretchen Shappert, USA 
Meredith Edwards, AUSA 
Mervin Bourne, Jr., AUSA 
Office of the United States Attorney 
St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. 
 
For the United States of America, 
 
Omodare Jupiter, FPD 
Gabriel Villegas, AFPD 
Office of the Federal Public Defender  
St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. 
 
For Teron Stevens. 
 
 
ORDER 
 
 
On October 15, 2018, the Court held a suppression hearing 
in this matter. At the conclusion of that hearing, the Court 
held a post-hearing conference in chambers. At that conference, 
the parties addressed the admissibility of Teron Stevens’s FEMA 
Application/Registration for Disaster Assistance form (“FEMA 
Application”). The Government seeks to introduce Teron Stevens’s 
FEMA application. Teron Stevens seeks to suppress his FEMA 
application. 
Case: 3:18-cr-00018-RAM-RM   Document #: 51   Filed: 10/16/18   Page 1 of 3
The Government asserts that a FEMA employee, Maria 
Requenez, received information from Teron Stevens that she 
included on Stevens’s FEMA application. The Government further 
asserts that Teron Stevens indicated that he owned a home for 
which FEMA disaster assistance was given. Teron Stevens denies 
ever giving such information. 
Given the importance of the admissibility of the FEMA 
application to the case, and the absence of adequate briefing on 
the issue, the Court indicated that the parties must brief the 
issue prior to trial. 
The Court further indicated that the parties’ briefs should 
address all relevant issues including, but not limited to, the 
following: (1) whether a document may be admitted under the 
business records exception to the rule against hearsay when 
there is a potential to use that document as a party admission; 
and (2) whether cross-examination of Maria Requenez will provide 
sufficient protection for Teron Stevens in the event that the 
FEMA application is admitted through the business records 
exception.  
 
 
 
 
 
Case: 3:18-cr-00018-RAM-RM   Document #: 51   Filed: 10/16/18   Page 2 of 3
 
 
The premises considered, it is hereby 
 
ORDERED that the parties’ briefs regarding the 
admissibility of Teron Stevens’s FEMA application shall be FILED 
no later than 9:00 A.M. on October 18, 2018.  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
S\ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
Curtis V. Gómez 
 
District Judge 
 
Case: 3:18-cr-00018-RAM-RM   Document #: 51   Filed: 10/16/18   Page 3 of 3