Case against five accused scammers deferred to September 9
Published:Monday | May 11, 2015 | 12:00 AM
WESTERN BUREAU:
The five St James men who reportedly conned a number of victims out of US$500,000 (J$55.6 million) through the lottery scam over a four-year period had their case put off until September 9, following their latest appearance in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday.
Marlon Lawrence, of Hampton in St James, and his four co-accused - Ricardo McLean, Bunny Tomblin, Damian Hutchinson and Shadrock Miller - are charged with breaches of the Law Reform Fraudulent Transactions and Special Provisions Act.
Although the quintet was expected to stand trial on Monday, the case had to be put off after the court was told that a number of documents were still to be served on their defence attorneys, from the prosecution.
The court was also told that one of the prosecution witnesses had recently fallen ill, and that a doctor's report was to be secured to that effect.
As a result, Resident Magistrate Carolyn Tie set the case for mention on September 9, and extended the five men's bails to that date.
The allegations are that the five men worked together to con several persons in the United States out of the funds between 2005 and 2008.
Lawrence reportedly bilked two United States residents out of approximately US$12,500 (J$1.4 million) during this period.