ST. THOMAS — The V.I. Dept. of Justice on Tuesday announced that D.O.J. special agents arrested 26-year-old K’zsa Hodge on elder financial abuse and exploitation charges including embezzlement, forgery, grand larceny, possession of forged instruments and obtaining money by false pretense.

According to the release, Hodge was arrested at the Bureau of Corrections — where she is currently an inmate serving a two-year sentence for a prior forgery case — based on a warrant signed by Magistrate Judge Paula Norkaitis on June 3. Hodge has already served 6 months and is up for parole consideration.

According to a probable cause fact sheet in support of the arrest warrant, on or about January 28, 2022, Dept. of Justice investigators received a complaint from a senior citizen in relation to allegations of a theft and forgery of his by his wife’s caretaker, Kzsa Hodge, who was hired to take care of his wife who was suffering from a hip injury. Both the complainant and his wife are senior citizens ages 76 and 84 respectively. The complainant was able to identify 31 of his checks made payable to K’zsa Hodge, which he had not authorized or issued. The total amount of the checks fraudulently drawn on the accounts of the complainant totaled $30,100, according to the fact sheet.

Magistrate Judge Norkaitis found probable cause and set bail at $30,000 on the arrest warrant. Hodge is scheduled for advice of rights on Wednesday, June 8 at 10:00am.

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