The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

ELEVEN Dominican nationals found in possession of forged work permits were arraigned in the Freeport Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The accused men appeared before Magistrate Rengin Johnson in Court Three, where they pled guilty to possession of a forged document. They were each fined $3,000 or one year’s imprisonment.

It is alleged on November 22 at Freeport, the men were found in possession of forged short-term work permits knowing them to have been obtained by fraudulent means.

The men were attempting to enter the Bahamas by fraudulent means. They had arrived from Haiti aboard a chartered airplane and presented fraudulent work permits to an immigration officer on duty. 

One of the Dominican men, who is known to Immigration officials, had been arrested in Freeport in July along with others for possession of fraudulent work permits. The man was eventually flown to New Providence and repatriated to the Dominican Republic.

It is believed that the men were part of a smuggling operation to get people into the Bahamas by obtaining Bahamian fraudulent work permits to enter the country, and then be smuggled across to the United States. 

Magistrate Johnson imposed the maximum penalty, a $3,000 fine. In default of payment, the men are to serve one-year imprisonment at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. She also ordered the men to be deported on payment of the fine or time served.

The Dominicans arraigned were Cristian Leandro Casado Lara, 32; Puro Benito Martinez, 20; Jose Luis Tejada Mordan, 50; Johnny Rodriguez, 54; Jose Armando Arias Medrano, 35; Joan Antonio Encarnacion Baez, 30; Melvin Alexander Confesor Soto, 35; Stalin Rafael Lara, 25; Marino Enrique Guerrero Andujar, 49; Juan Carlos Arias Diaz, 39; and Jean Carlos Ezequuiel Pena, 33.