PUBLIC HEALTH IMPOSTER

THERE COULD be serious repercussions for a man who impersonated a health inspector while in attendance at last Thursday’s reopening of the popular Crab Circle street food hub.

Clad in a plain beige shirt and brown trousers, mimicking the official attire worn by health inspectors across Jamaica, the man went by the name ‘Randy Bucktoe’ and was accompanied by another male, who also similarly dressed.

The imposter, whose real name is Kazrae Gray, conducted interviews with several media outlets and interacted with vendors, at times requesting to see their official food handler’s permit and purportedly ensuring that they followed the proper food safety protocols.

Although he was not on the programme of events, which was moderated by Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation CEO Robert Hill, Gray was invited on to the platform by Hill to offer brief remarks on behalf of the public health department.

Grayson Hutchinson, chief public health inspector, confirmed that the police have been notified about the incident.

Gray and his accomplice, who goes by the moniker ‘Chuck Starr’, have breached the Professions, Supplementary to Medicine Act, which has in place a council for professions supplementary to medicine, which is a regulatory board for public and environment health inspectors, among other professions.

According to Section 15 (2) of the act, “any person who with intent to deceive (a) forges or uses or lends to or allows to be used by any other person any certificate issued under this act; or (b) makes or has in his possession any document so closely resembling such certificate as to be calculated to deceive, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction before a resident magistrate to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand dollars and in default of payment thereof to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding six months”.

During his remarks, Gray discussed the department’s need for assistance from the public in helping to uncover food and business operators who were in breach of health regulations.

Gray is a social media prankster, CEO of the reality television series 876Roomates, and an executive member of Cashment Entertainment.

On Saturday, he released a teaser video for his YouTube channel on what he described to be “a massive social experiment”.

In the video, Gray stated how he had become a health inspector “overnight”, and boasted about tricking restaurant owners, his friends, and “the entire Jamaica [and] all the media outlets” that he was a health inspector.

The video further showed Gray and his accomplice seemingly harassing and falsely inspecting operations of small business owners.

“I was able to access people restaurant with an obviously fake ID and fake uniform,” Gray confessed in the video, which was posted on his Instagram page.

Chuck Starr is a music artiste known for songs such as Chap Oldman Pension.

In April 2017, Gray was among eight Jamaicans who were extradited from Jamaica to face charges in the United States for being involved in a multimillion-dollar lottery scam that defrauded some 90 elderly Americans out of more than US$5.7 million.

Reports are that 15 individuals were each charged with 66 total counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering and that they were accused of calling victims, persuading them to wire money to them to bank accounts in Jamaica.

Impersonator could ‘mar’ work of officials, says chief public health inspector

Chief Public Health Inspector Grayson Hutchinson has described the incident with Kazrae Gray posing as a health inspector at Crab Circle’s reopening as “unfortunate”.

He explained that he and an official team visited Crab Circle hours before the official ceremony to ensure that the facility had met all the requirements for reopening.

Hutchinson further stated that the men who were seen speaking with media representatives were not inspectors.

In an interview with The Gleaner on Monday, Hutchinson continued that it was “even more unfortunate” that media professionals were fooled by Gray, and that KSAMC CEO Robert Hill had regrettably assumed that Gray was a legitimate inspector.

Hutchinson stated that what legitimised Gray’s impersonation was that of Hill introducing him as an inspector.

“That is what would have tricked everyone. I was told, when I spoke with Mr Robert Hill, he mentioned that he, the gentleman ... actually came up to him and asked if he could say something on behalf of the inspectorate. So, it is against that background that he assumed, having seen him in the uniform, that he was a part of the team,” Hutchinson explained.

Hutchinson confirmed that the police have been notified about the incident and confessed that while he was not able to currently assess the extent to which the prank has since disrupted the health department’s operations, it would undoubtedly “mar” the reputation of the department and “discredit” the officers to the extent to which business owners and operators, along with the persons in general with whom they interact with and serve, to become “highly suspicious and to scrutinise us even more”.

LEGISLATION

Gray and his accomplice could be sanctioned for breaches of the Professions, Supplementary to Medicine Act.

According to Section 15 (2) of the Act, “any person who with intent to deceive (a) forges or uses or lends to or allows to be used by any other person any certificate issued under this Act; or (b) makes or has in his possession any document so closely resembling such certificate as to be calculated to deceive, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction before a Resident Magistrate to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand dollars and in default of payment thereof to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding six months”.

Hutchinson added that individuals in the prank video were, in fact, shown a fake food handler’s permit and called for the pranksters to be sanctioned for their actions.

Going forward, Hutchinson advises the public to request the identification cards of any inspector they encounter.

He detailed that the official IDs had a blue background with the name of the officer, the officer’s position, the department of which the officer is associated with, the officer’s employee number, and the card’s expiration date.

Hutchinson continued that the officer’s signature would also be on the card and the region under the health ministry of which they work.

He stated that on the back of the card, an authorisation message is affixed along with the official logo of the department.

If there is still a sense of unease, persons can contact the chief public health inspector for the respective parishes or call the local health departments to ascertain whether the person is legit and must gain entry to the property.

“This will certainly reduce the seamless manner in which we would normally gain access to the premises and to perform duties, but persons need to make sure that the persons who are entering are public health inspectors,” he said.

In response to the incident, Hill informed The Gleaner that he “unreservedly apologise for any inconvenience that the public may have suffered due to this unfortunate occurrence”.

Hill explained that Gray, who went by the name ‘Randy Bucktoe’ at the event, requested two minutes to speak on the programme and that given the inspectorate’s involvement in the process of Crab Circle’s reopening, the request was granted.

“He stated that he wanted to use the opportunity to remind the vendors and the public at large about the importance of adhering to the requirements of the public health regulations and the high standards to be kept by all establishments that offer food for sale to the public,” Hill revealed.

“To my amazement and utter disappointment, it was later discovered that this person was not, in fact, a member of the public health department, but rather someone who wilfully impersonated such an officer which unfortunately misled me into believing that he was,” Hill said.

He expressed displeasure with the individuals who “deliberately sought to mislead the public through this type of unethical behaviour”, adding that it left the public to great risk, whether criminal or otherwise.

Hill called for the offenders to be dealt with swiftly to the fullest extent of the law.

In a press release on Monday, the health ministry cautioned the public to be aware health inspector impersonators.

“This group of imposters was also featured in a video on social media visiting the Island Grill store in Ocho Rios, St Ann, on November 13, 2023, where they carried out an illegal assessment then demanded food for their service,” the statement said.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com