Seven women conned in overseas job scam
January 29, 2007
SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine - The Spanish Town police have cracked an illegal overseas employment ring in which money was collected from seven unsuspecting females for non-existent jobs in St Maarten.
Manager of the illegal scheme, Hardy 'Reech' Elleston, 42, cane harvester operator of Inswood Estate, Spanish Town, pleaded guilty to the charge of fraudulent conversion when he appeared in the Spanish Town criminal court last week.
The court heard how Elleston allegedly promised two of the women hotel employment in St Maarten and collected $65,000 to purchase airline tickets. After pleading guilty, he threw himself at the mercy of the court and begged the judge not to send him to prison, promising to repay the money.
But senior St Catherine resident magistrate, Lorna Errar-Gayle was unmoved. She remanded him in custody to Friday, February 2, 2007 and ordered that his finger prints be taken by the police to determine if he had a criminal record.
Allegations related to the court by detective Corporal Keith Roach, are that between November and December, 2006, Elleston recruited a total of seven women to work in a St Maarten hotel, restaurant and laundromat.
He collected between $18,000 and $28,000 each from them and promised to have his lady friend in St Maarten purchase airline tickets for them to leave Jamaica on December 23, 2006.
However, no tickets came and the enraged women demanded their money back to no avail. Two of the women reported the matter to the police and on January 16 they accompanied the cops to Elleston's workplace, where he was arrested and charged with fraudulently collecting $65,000 from them....
Author: T K Whyte
Source: Jamaica Observer
