ST. THOMAS - A former V.I. Internal Revenue Bureau supervisor accused of issuing tax clearance letters to 304 delinquent business owners and conspiring with a businessman to evade taxes was allowed Friday to visit the man in Florida while he recuperates from car wreck injuries.

Former Revenue Bureau supervisor Nealia Sprauve faces five counts of fraud by a Revenue Bureau employee.

U.S. District Court Magistrate Ruth Miller on Friday approved Sprauve's request to travel with her adult children to Miami and Tamarac, Fla., from Thursday to Feb. 27 to visit Joseph Clendinen Sr., who is a co-defendant in the case.

The request asked the court's permission to let Sprauve and her children see their father, Clendinen, who was seriously hurt in a car wreck Nov. 2, 2011, according to a motion filed by Assistant U.S. Public Defender Gabriel Villegas.

The U.S. Attorney's Office and the U.S. Probation Office did not object to the request, according to Miller's order.

An internal investigation at the Revenue Bureau revealed that from January 2007 to April 2011, Sprauve issued 462 tax clearance letters - most going to delinquent V.I. taxpayers pursuing business license renewals.

As a Revenue Bureau supervisor, Sprauve never was authorized to issue tax clearance letters, according to court documents.

Tax clearance letters are required to renew business licenses; the process is designed to ensure revenues are recouped at a time when the territory is plagued by $40 million of various unpaid and outstanding taxes.

Prosecutors said Clendinen evaded at least $89,310 in taxes.

He is accused of filing false income tax statements for 2006, 2007 and 2008 - all filed in 2010 - that under-reported earnings by $623,541.

None of the clearance letters retrieved from Sprauve's office denied requests, and 304 were "to taxpayers who were non-filers, as well as to taxpayers with outstanding obligations and for whom no payment agreement was in place," according to a July 22 disciplinary letter by Internal Revenue Bureau Director Claudette Watson-Anderson suspending Sprauve without pay and recommending her termination.

"By your actions, you have severely compromised and impaired the bureau's ability to enforce the rules and regulations designed to get our taxpayers to remain in compliance in order to lawfully conduct business in the Virgin Islands," Watson-Anderson wrote.

Sprauve, who earned $49,918 annually, fought the suspension with a union grievance.

Gov. John deJongh Jr. finalized Sprauve's termination Aug. 8, 2011.

The trial, which repeatedly was delayed by the introduction of new evidence last year, is scheduled for May 14 in District Court.

- Contact reporter Michael Todd at 714-9104 or email mtodd@dailynews.vi.