ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands — Jeffrey Plante's detractors derisively refer to him as the "Snitch of Tortola" and say people here should be outraged that a convicted swindler led the high-life at the expense of the British Virgin Islands government while four innocent men sit in Her Majesty's Prison.

The jury still has to judge Plante's credibility, but many who know him have already made up their minds. Karina Schwarze, a Parisian who claims she was nearly taken in by Plante's lies, says she saw evidence of his largess firsthand.

In an interview in January, Schwarze said she knew nothing about the Lois McMillen murder case when she arrived on this eastern Caribbean island December 4 using a prepaid plane ticket Plante sent her. During a planned four-day trip that stretched to 14 days, the champagne flowed freely and her host used cash or checks to pay for many lavish dinners, Schwarze said.

The two met, according to her and a letter she sent to police and prosecutor Terrence Williams, through an Internet site that caters to adults.

Plante, who used the handle "Tortola Man," described himself in a chatroom listing as a handsome, financially secure businessman from Dallas who wanted a "mate" to share his charmed lifestyle. In hindsight, Schwarze said her own Internet handle "Blonde-But-Bright" might have missed the mark.

Plante, labeled a parole "absconder" by Texas authorities, was none of those things. He owned no homes, no private jets, none of the items Schwarze says he claimed to own in e-mail and telephone calls inviting her to Tortola.

"I thought I was living in a bloody fairy tale. He was Prince Charming, everything a woman could want," said Schwarze, who stayed with Plante in an apartment provided by his government hosts. "We were going to get married in Hawaii on Valentine's Day. For 10 days, he just treated me like a queen."

After agreeing to marry Plante, Schwarze said her husband-to-be changed noticeably. She told police that he used the engagement to pressure her to charge thousands of dollars to her credit cards, claiming he had to cancel his own because of problems with his ex-wife. (Plante, who still wears a wedding ring, testified this week that he believes he is still married to his 10th wife.) A $10,000 check Plante offered to cover the credit card bills still has not cleared, Scwharze said.

Schwarze returned to Paris in mid-December, just days before Plante was arrested by police here. He remains jailed pending a hearing into charges that he passed 32 bad checks while a guest of the government.