Cop on 15 fraud charges

A POLICE Constable appeared before a Port-of-Spain Magistrate yesterday charged with 15 counts of fraud.  The 36-year-old Chaguanas officer was placed on $100,000 bail when he appeared before Magistrate Ejenny Espinet in the Port-of-Spain First Magistrates’ Court. The Highway Patrol officer was not called upon to plead since the charges were laid indictably by Sgt Joseph Frank of the Fraud Squad.

The officer, who was regularised from a Special Reserved Police (SRP) officer, was arrested at his home by a party of Fraud Squad officers on Thursday morning.  Fifteen warrants were later executed on him by Sgt Frank. Five of the warrants charge the officer with forgery, another five charges him with uttering forged documents, while five more accuses him of obtaining close to $15,000 by the virtue of a forged instrument. The offences are alleged to have occurred between June and November of 2000 and stems from the tendering of monthly duty returns in the Port-of-Spain area. The police officer was unrepresented when he appeared before Magistrate Espinet.  His matter was adjourned to April 7 in the same court. He has since been handed his suspension papers until the determination of the matters.  The investigations were spearheaded by Fraud Squad chief, Sr Supt Wellington Virgil.