Joke’s on you

Three men have been arrested and charged for offences related to the impersonation of public health officers and related conspiracy charges.

According to a statement from the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the arrests are related to an incident that occurred last month at Heroes Circle in Kingston.

Charged are 23-year-old Orain Harris, a content creator of May Pen, Clarendon, and Greenwood, St James; 23-year-old Ayden Smart, a content creator of Bushy Park Housing Scheme, Clarendon and Greenwood, St James; and 32-year-old Kazrae Gray, a television producer of Greenwood, St James.

In November, during the reopening of Crab Circle at Heroes Circle, Gray, under the assumed moniker ‘Randy Bucktoe’, addressed the attendees as he and his co-accused were impersonating public health officials.

Gray and his accomplices would later release a series of videos on social media revealing the deception and in a subsequent interview with The Gleaner, he maintained that their actions were not done with any ill intent.

Gray said then that the idea came after some of his friends were allegedly tricked by individuals posing as government officials.

“You have people weh dress up like police and go inna dem house and rob them, ... stop people [in cars] on the highway, [and] you have people dress up as JPS (Jamaica Public Service workers), and stuff like that,” he said as he claimed that the ‘experiment’ was aimed at boosting public awareness of the ease with which public officials can be impersonated.

However, also speaking with The Gleaner, Chief Public Health Inspector Grayson Hutchinson rejected the justification of the pranksters.

Noting that public health inspectors across the island were offended and enraged by the actions of the impersonators, Hutchinson described their justification as “ridiculous”.

“The fact that a uniform is easy to acquire doesn’t mean that one [should] impersonate an officer or officers from different professions just to prove a point … ,” he told The Gleaner in an immediate response to Gray’s comments. “And [the argument] that the uniform should be changed or should be more difficult to get, ... I don’t accept that as justification in any way, shape, or form for what has been done.”

Gray, Smart, and Harris were charged with Breach of the Profession’s Supplementary to Medicine Act and Conspiracy at Common Law to breaches of the Profession’s Supplementary to Medicine Act.

Crab Circle had been previously closed by the Ministry of Health and Wellness for unsanitary practices.

In its statement, the JCF noted that Harris, Smart, and Gray, who were mimicking the attire of public health inspectors, presented fraudulent identification cards and that Gray addressed the audience, falsely representing himself as a health inspector.

“The actions of the accused were recorded and uploaded on social media, which subsequently led to their arrest and charge,” the JCF said, adding that it took such acts of impersonation and the breach of public trust very seriously.

Their court dates are being finalised.

editorial@gleanerjm.com