By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
TWO people, accused of pocketing thousands of dollars from the fraudulent sale of a plot of Crown Land, were yesterday granted $10,000 bail before their trial.
Hertha Jenkins, 53, and Dawson Bullard, 34, appeared before Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain charged with over 50 fraud related offences that the prosecution alleged they committed between January 2020 and January 2021.
Yesterday, Jenkins was individually charged with 11 counts of fraud by false pretences, 11 counts of attempted stealing, four counts each of possessing and uttering a forged document and 10 counts of money laundering.
It is alleged the accused defrauded a woman of $2,100 after she took the money as a down payment for a parcel of Crown land in the Carmichael Village area on January 2, 2020. According to the prosecution, the land is valued at $44,000 per acre.
Jenkins was also accused of fraudulently obtaining $4,000 from another woman in two separate payments of $1,500 and $2,500, after she accepted the funds as a down payment for the same plot of Crown land in May and June of last year.
The prosecution said the defendant unlawfully obtained over $30,000 from nine other people between July and December of last year after promising them access to the Carmichael Village area property.
The prosecution said the 53-year-old was also found with forged Department of Lands & Survey acknowledgement letters, which were printed in the name of several of her clients. They further argued she knowingly acquired the proceeds of crime on 10 different occasions between January and December of last year.
Yesterday, Jenkins’ co-accused, Bullard, was individually charged with three counts of possession of a forged document, three counts of attempted stealing, two counts of fraud by false pretences, two counts of money laundering and a single count of uttering a forged document.
Bullard was accused of having another set of forged acknowledgement letters from the Department of Lands & Surveys in his possession, he was further accused of accepting thousand-dollar down payments from people to secure the plot of land in Carmichael Village.
In one case, the prosecution alleged the defendant fraudulently obtained $3,500 from a man sometime between November 2019 and January 2020 for the property. In another instance, Bullard was accused of defrauding another man of $3,500 on January 2 for the parcel of land.
Both Bullard and Jenkins were collectively charged with another two counts each of fraud by false pretenses, attempted stealing and money laundering after they were accused of defrauding a man and woman of $3,500 and $2,800 on January 7 and 12 of this year.
During the arraignment, both defendants denied all of the allegations and their matter was adjourned to April 13 for trial.
Jenkins and Bullard were granted $10,000 bail until that time.
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