ST. THOMAS - A judge on Monday added four properties Rodney Miller Sr. owns in Texas to the list of assets the court has frozen pending the outcome of the former Schneider Regional Medical Center executive's criminal trial.

V.I. Superior Court Judge Michael Dunston granted part of a prosecution mo-tion by ordering that the four Washington County, Texas, properties be included in an injunction freezing a variety of bank accounts, vehicles and properties owned by Miller and two other former hospital officials.

However, the judge denied prosectors' request to include in the injunction two other Texas properties Miller owns: one of them an easement in which Miller owns a 5 percent share; the other a property Miller bought several months after leaving Schneider Regional Medical Center.

Miller and former hospital executives Amos Carty Jr. and Peter Najawicz are facing a multitude of criminal charges, including conspiracy, fraud and embezzlement, filed in October 2008 under the territory's Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly called CICO.

The three men have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Former hospital board chairwoman June Adams is also charged in the case, although not with CICO violations. She, too, has pleaded not guilty.

CICO contains provisions that subject a person convicted of a violation to forfeiture of any real or personal property derived from that criminal activity.

Prosecutors sought a temporary restraining order that was granted in August 2008 - before charges were filed - and an injunction that the court granted in November to freeze assets belonging to the three men. The TRO and the injunction that followed are aimed at keeping assets that could be subject to forfeiture within the government's reach.

On Monday, Nicholas Peru, a special investigator with the V.I. Inspector General's Office, testified that while he was looking into assets owned by Miller, he found several properties that Miller purchased in the Brenham, Texas, area while he was Schneider Regional CEO.

Miller grew up in Texas.

According to Peru's testimony, Miller purchased the Texas properties between October 2004 and July 2008.

Peru testified that Miller began receiving a housing allowance from the hospital in excess of what he was entitled to in 2004 - payments that continued until he left the job in November 2007.

At the core of the prosecution's case is the contention that Miller, Najawicz and Carty worked together - using tools such as stipend agreements, contracts, letters of direction, benefits and perks - to give legitimacy to their scheme to illegally divert large amounts of hospital money into their own pockets.

However, the defense contends that no crimes occurred at all - that the three men were simply abiding by lawful contracts and agreements that entitled them to the money they earned.

According to testimony on Monday from Peru, the Texas properties that prosecutors asked the judge to include in the injunction are:

- A property in the 1200 block of Garrett in Brenham valued at $75,050 - $8,490 for the land and $62,560 for the house on it. Miller purchased the property in July 2008.

- A property in the 1200 block of Bridge in Brenham valued at $61,220 - $8,610 for the land and $52,610 for the house. Miller bought the property in September 2006, Peru testified.

- A property along Old Chapell Hill Road in Brenham valued at $89,420. Peru testified that the property is 6.334 acres. Miller bought it in October 2007.

- A property along Old Chapell Hill Road in Brenham valued at $880. This is a 5 percent interest in an acre that is used as an easement to get into the 6-acre tract that Miller owns.

- A property in the 200 block of North Drumm in Brenham valued at $111,480 - $22,800 for the land and $88,680 for the house on it. Miller and his wife Ronica bought the property in October 2004, Peru said. They took out a $85,000 mortgage at the time. Peru said this was the only one of the properties purchased with a mortgage.

- A property in the 1500 block of Garrett in Brenham valued at $64,370 - $8,490 for the land, $55,100 for the house and $780 for a building. Miller bought the property in August 2006.

Dunston said Monday's hearing would focus only on whether the Texas properties met the threshold in the CICO Act to be included in the injunction restraining assets.

Miller's attorneys raised a question about whether Ronica Miller had been given reasonable notice that prosecutors wanted to restrain the property, noting that Texas is a community property state. They also noted that Ronica Miller is listed as an owner with her husband on one of the properties.

Miller's attorneys also raised questions about whether the other owners of the acre in which Miller owns a 5 percent share had received reasonable notice of the hearing.

CICO requires that once charges have been filed, persons whom prosecutors know will be affected by an injunction freezing an asset receive reasonable notice and opportunity to participate in a hearing.

Miller's attorneys also questioned how property Miller bought eight months after he left Schneider Regional could be included in the injunction.

The judge found that there was cause to believe that reasonable notice and opportunity to participate in the hearing had been provided to Ronica Miller and included the four properties - including the one that Rodney and Ronica Miller jointly own - in the injunction.

However, Dunston did not include in the injunction the easement in which Miller has a 5 percent share.

Likewise, Dunston said he did not have enough evidence before him to conclude that the property Miller bought eight months after he left Schneider Regional would be forfeitable under the statute if Miller was convicted, and did not include the property in the 1200 block of Garrett in the injunction.

- Contact Joy Blackburn at 774-8772 ext. 303 or e-mail jblackburn@dailynews.vi.