A Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State has sentenced an internet fraudster, Mathew Ogwuche, a.k.a Karlee Grey, to seven months imprisonment.
Justice Patricia Ajoku was pronounced guilty of impersonation after cross examination in a criminal charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibadan Zonal Office.
The judge held that the Commission had proved the allegation that the 22-year-old secondary school dropout impersonated one Karlee Grey to defraud people through the use of the internet beyond reasonable doubt.
The offence against Ogwuche is contrary to Section 22(2)(b)(ii) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22(2)(b) of the same Act.
The judge also ordered that the convict restitutes the sum of $645 (Six hundred and forty five United States of America Dollars) and forfeits one Hp Laptop and one Infinix S4 mobile phone to the Federal Government of Nigeria through the EFCC.
In a related case, a lady called Mary Akerele was brought before Justice Abiodun Akinyemi of the Ogun State High Court 4, Abeokuta on a five-count-charge bordering on stealing to the tune of N35,520,000 (Thirty five million five hundred and twenty thousand naira).
Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC’s Head, Media and Publicity, indicated that trouble started for the 46-years-old socialite, who resides at Aseko area of Idiroko Ogun State, when the Commission received a petition, alleging that she collected the said sum in installments from one Alhaja Oladoja Abike to supply four truck-load of rice from a rice milling company in Bida, Niger State but diverted the funds.
One of the charges read, “That Mary Masirat Akerele (trading under the name and style of Goodness of Jesus Global Ventures) on or about the 19th day of September, 2018 at Abeokuta within the Abeokuta Judicial Division of the honourable court, fraudulently converted to your own use the sum of N11, 000,000.00 (Eleven million naira) only property of Fausia Abike Oladoja and thereby committed an offence of stealing contrary to Section 390 (9) of the Criminal Code, Cap. 30, laws of Ogun State, 2006.”
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to her.
Counsel to the defendant, H. A Omikunle, made an oral application for his client’s bail. However, Shamsuddeen Bashir, Counsel to EFCC, opposed the application on the grounds of the defendant’s failure to keep the terms of the administrative bail earlier granted her.
Justice Akinyemi adjourned the case till March 4 for determination of the bail application and ordered the remand of the defendant at the Correctional Centre in Ibara, Abeokuta.
Also on Monday, the EFCC had brought Oluwatoyin Henry before Justice Sherifat Adeyemi of the Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan, on one count of obtaining by false pretence.
The charge read, “That Oluwatoyin Henry sometimes in 2019, at Ogbomosho, within the jurisdiction of this Court, with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of USD$1,200 (One thousand two hundred United States of America Dollars) from one Betty Mosley, when you falsely represented to him that you are a citizen of United States of America by name Amanda, who is in love with him which representations you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence.”
The convict, who claimed to be a student of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, a pleaded guilty to the amended charge after a plea bargain agreement with the prosecution.
Based on his plea, he was convicted and sentenced to six months in prison.
He was also ordered to restitute the sum of $1,200 USD (One Thousand Two Hundred United States of American Dollars) to his victim, and forfeit his iPhone 11, one Infinix Hot 5 and a Nokia phone to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
