COP HELD IN SCAM

WESTERN BUREAU:

Local authorities say they are now cooperating with their international counterparts after a Jamaican policewoman attached to the Zones of Special Operations (ZOSO) was jailed in the United States on accusations of being a major player in a lottery scamming operation. She has been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by wire and conspiracy to commit fraud by mail.

The 18-year veteran employed to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Shelian Cherine Allen, who resides in Stonebrook Vista, Trelawny, and is stationed in the parish of St James, is accused of running a lottery scamming organisation that is responsible for fleecing US$1.69 million from mainly elderly victims based in the United States.

The cop’s 20-year-old son, who was also under investigation for lottery scamming, was also arrested.

Allen is believed to have earned US$128,000 from scamming between 2019 and 2021, under what law enforcement officers in an affidavit have referred to as the ‘Allen Lottery Scheme Organisation’.

The affidavit was filed against her in the Eastern District Court of Wisconsin in Milwaukee on Wednesday, February 2, after months of investigations and admission of guilt by a number of accomplices based in the US.

At least one of the 17 vulnerable or elderly victims identified lost her house, plus US$150,000 in the scam, said the report.

Allen was detained when she tried to enter Fort Lauderdale in the United States in September 2021. Border control officers were able to confirm her involvement in the crimes based on statements collected from her co-conspirators, the serial number in her iPhone 11 Pro, the IMEI and her phone number.

Yesterday, the JCF revealed that the 42-year-old has been suspended with immediate effect following her arrest on Friday. Allen, who was previously suspended by the JCF on corruption allegations over two years ago, was only reinstated in 2021.

ON THE RADAR

According to reports out of the United States, the policewoman has been on the radar of the US Department of Homeland Security as one of the leaders of the scam since 2020. Monies were traced back to multiple accounts opened by Allen in the US, including a PNC Bank account. She has been travelling between Jamaica and the US for months.

The investigation was a collaborative between the Brown County Sheriff’s Office in Green Bay, Wisconsin; postal inspectors with the US Postal Inspection Service; and law enforcement agencies from the US and Jamaica.

Special agent with the Homeland Security Investigations, Thomas Koch, in his statement to the court, said the defendant conspired with others to devise and carry out a telemarketing and mass marketing scheme that targeted vulnerable victims in order to defraud and to obtain money by means of materially false and fraudulent pretences, representations, and promises.

Allen and her co-conspirators reportedly identified elderly citizens who had access to financial resources, and once targeted, the organisation would contact the selected victim, informing them they had won a large lottery which they called the ‘Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes’.

Victims were told they needed to pay fees in order to get their winnings and would be contacted by phone, until all of their resources were depleted. Allen and her co-conspirators reportedly did so by unlawfully, wilfully, and knowingly conspiring together, and agreeing to devise a scheme for the purpose of obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretences, said the report.

The policewoman and her team are believed to have transferred the money or property by means of wire transfers, postal money orders, bulk cash transfers, the mail, and other means which affected interstate and/or foreign commerce.

“As a result of this conspiracy, Allen has been able to fraudulently enrich herself as well as her co-conspirators while ruining the lives of many of the victims,” said the sworn affidavit.

VICTIM SOLD HOUSE

According to the report, the victim who alerted the police, providing the catalyst for the investigation, was contacted by the reported scammers in the summer of 2019 and told she had won US$18 million and a Mercedes-Benz. She was urged not to disclose the winnings to her bank because it was a secret.

The victim told the investigators that she received calls day and night from persons claiming to be lottery representatives with directives to send money in cash, postal orders, and personal and cashier’s cheques made out to different individuals both in the US and Jamaica.

The victim was also directed to send bulk cash in order to receive her winnings. She eventually sold her house trying to secure US$30,000 to meet the demands of the scammers. The victim lost US$150,000 in cash overall to the scheme.

Bank records obtained for Allen’s PNC Bank account show there were only two deposits into her account, other than her initial account opening deposit. On February 14, 2020, there was a deposit of a Fox Communities Credit Union Check #26444 in the amount of US$6,000 from Victim-1, and on April 22, 2020, there was a deposit of a Fox Communities Credit Union Check #1344 in the amount of US$4,000 from Victim-1.

“These deposits are consistent with Allen being one of the primary beneficiaries of the scheme, as the money from Victim-1 went directly to Allen’s account. On April 21, 2020, the victim wrote a personal cheque in the amount of US$4,000 payable to Allen,” read the report.

The affidavit said bank records were obtained for Allen’s PNC Bank account From February 18, 2020 to February 24, 2020, the same period international travel confirms her in the US.

Those records indicate that there were six withdrawals from various ATMs located in Florida for a total of US$1,731.90. Records also indicate that there were three debit card purchases at La Quinta Inns totalling US$831.68 from that account.

Additionally, records indicate that there were 24 purchases at various retailers in Florida, including Gap Outlet, Marshalls, Macy’s, Foot Locker, Old Navy, Elegance Perfume, Polo/Ralf Lauren, and Victoria’s Secret, for a total amount of US$2,440.43.

The total amount withdrawn from the account for these transactions was US$5,004.01.

SUSPENDED ON CORRUPTION CHARGES

Allen previously served the JCF while being attached to the Hanover Police Division, and later moved over to St James, where she served within the ZOSO in Mount Salem when it was first declared in 2017.

She was later suspended for alleged corruption, and while off duty, her family was struck by tragedy when the father of her child, another police constable, Rohan Bucknor, was shot dead on the night of August 19, 2019, while sitting in a barber chair in Petersfield, Westmoreland.

Allen won her case against the JCF in 2021, was called back to the force, and was since assigned to the ZOSO in Norwood, St James.

Her colleagues within the Area One Police Division expressed shock on learning of her arrest in the US on Friday.

“A food woman that, but mi still can’t believe that she mek dem ketch her again inna corruption, and she just get back har job,” one officer within the Norwood ZOSO told The Sunday Gleaner.

“None a wi can’t believe seh har family a go through so much bad luck, and she mek dem catch har inna corruption. She shoulda tek heed after dem kill har babyfather inna Westmoreland. She get kick out a di force, and fi imagine seh she get back a bly, and come dash weh everything, is a disgrace.”

– Hopeton Bucknor also contributed to this story.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com