WESTERN BUREAU:
ESMIE JONES, operator of the failed pyramid scheme Speedy Cash Partner Plan, was charged Saturday with fraudulent conversion and breaches of the Financial Act and is scheduled to face the court later this week.
The St. James Police confirmed yesterday that Miss Jones was charged following investigations by the Kingston Fraud Squad and was in custody.
Mrs. Jones has been on the run since last Wednesday after angry depositors of the failed scheme threatened to hurt her.
On Wednesday they descended on the Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS), in Montego Bay, after they discovered she had closed her bank account there.
Further demonstrations were staged in Sam Sharpe Square in that city after she failed to pay out the partner money.
Following public outcry, the police stepped up their investigation and Mrs. Jones, who is reported to be in her mid-60s, was subsequently picked up Friday evening by detectives from the Montego Bay CIB at a house in Windsor, St. Elizabeth.
Speedy Cash has been operating in Montego Bay since late November last year. The pyramid scheme started to show signs of trouble late last month after a rush on the Hart Street office, by eager participants, resulted in a shooting incident. Twenty people were injured.
The scheme then moved its payment operations to the Barnett Street Police Station, but was subsequently ousted by the St. James High Command, which did not give permission for that arrangement.
Since its inception in Montego Bay the scheme, which promises unbelievable returns on small investments, has opened branches in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland; Falmouth, Trelawny and Brown's Town, St. Ann -- all of which have since closed.
On Thursday, one cashier who was employed to the Speedy Cash partner plan was beaten by an angry mob along Barnett Street.
Several other cashiers have gone into hiding following threats on their lives and last weekend Mrs. Jones' husband reported to the Montego Bay Police that he had received a telephone call, threatening to set their Farm Heights dwelling on fire.
