Cops appear in court charged with fraud

SRP Constable Dara Spencer, 40, who was last assigned to the Police Rapid Response Unit was charged with misconduct in public office by dishonestly obtaining $481 from the TT Police Service by falsely pretending to have performed duties on February 7 and 9, of last year, by submitting duty sheets indicating same.

The alleged offence was said to have taken place on February 28, 2015, at the Mon Repos Station.

Spencer, who was arrested on Thursday at her home, had received station bail in the sum of $60,000 which was not varied by Deputy Chief Magistrate, Nannette Forde-John.

The matter is expected to be transferred to the San Fernando Magistrates Court, however Spencer will return to the Portof- Spain Magistrates Court on February 6. She is represented by attorney Cedric Neptune.

She was charged by officers of the Fraud Squad.

Mere minutes after she appeared, acting Supt Wayne Thongs, 55, appeared before Forde-John charged with perverting the course of public justice by instructing a police officer to give Spencer a document which was part of the investigations of her conduct as a police officer.

He too had been granted bail in the sum of $80,000 at the Woodbrook Police Station where he was being held since his arrest last week Wednesday, and this was not varied by Forde-John.

Thongs, who was represented by attorneys Ian Brooks and Dr Kenneth O’Brien, will also return to court on February 6.