Cop freed of traffic ticket fraud

A POLICE officer was yesterday acquitted of fraud charges after the State was unable to prove the chain of custody of a fraudulent document. PC Aaron Bal, 40, of Couva, was before Justice Malcolm Holdip at the Port-of-Spain Fourth Criminal Court charged with forging and uttering a forged traffic ticket between November 24 and December 31, 1992. Bal’s attorney Ulric Skerritt objected to the ticket being admitted into evidence, because no one could say how it had fallen into the hands of senior officers. Additionally, the State’s main witness, maxi-taxi driver Wayne Belfon, was unable to identify the ticket. It was alleged that Bal had offered to retrieve a traffic ticket from the San Fernando court for Belfon at half the cost of the ticket.

Belfon had been issued the ticket by PC Lewis of the San Fernando Police Station. After receiving payment of $40 from Belfon, Bal had reportedly given the driver a yellow ticket and informed him that, “I fix it.” About a week later, Belfon gave the ticket to a PC Richards, who checked on its authenticity and, on the following day, told Belfon he had to go to court. The officer, stationed at the Chaguanas Police Station, has several other matters pending and has been on suspension since 1992. Appearing with Skerritt was attorney Dawn Mohan. Attorneys Marlon Sambucharan and Cheron Raphael represented the State.