SPANISH TOWN, St. Catherine:
THREE ST. CATHERINE women, including two sisters, who are charged in connection with the theft of stocks of cheque leaves from a basic school in Portmore, were all denied bail when they appeared in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's court on Tuesday.
They were charged under the Larceny Act. Sherene Lewis, 25, was charged with uttering forged documents and obtaining goods by means of false pretence; Carel Lewis, 27, is facing charges of simple larceny, while Sherene Robinson, 29, is charged with uttering forge documents and conspiracy.
The women are all from Naggo Head in Portmore, St. Catherine.
Allegations outlined in court by Detective Corporal Virginia Sinclair, of the Portmore Criminal Investigative Bureau, are that in October of this year Carel Lewis, who was employed at the Naggo Head Basic School as a janitor, gained unlawful access to the principal's office where she stole a stock of cheque leaves.
FORGED THE SIGNATURE
She allegedly took them to Sherene Robinson who allegedly forged the signature of the principal. The Lewis sisters then took the cheques to a particular wholesale in the Naggo Head area where they used the fraudulent cheques to purchase items and retrieve cash, it was reported.
The cheques, written in sums ranging from $4,000 to $8,000, were said to have totalled $29,000.
The scam was uncovered when it was noticed by the school's administration that the cheques were returned to the school, which prompted the principal to contact the Portmore police. Investigations led to the arrest of the three women.
They are scheduled to next appear in the Spanish Town RM court on January 18.
